university of
Connecticut
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BOOK 974.67.P197H v 1 c ,
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HISTORY OF
WATERBURY
AND THE
NAUGATUCK VALLEY
CONNECTICUT,
By WM. J._PAPE
Editor of the WaterburyRepublican
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME 1
1
CHICAGO — NEW YORK
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
A BIRDSEYE VIEW
IX TWENTY-FIVE YEARS WATERBURY HAS ABOUT GROWN OUT OF KNOWLEDGE OF
ITS OLD SELF ITS INDUSTRIAL SUCCESS THE WORK OF MASTERFUL MINDS
HER FAME IN METAL MAKING NOW WORLD-WIDE INTENSITY OF PRODUC-
TION IN NAUGATUCK VALLEY HARDLY EQUALED IN ANY OTHER LIKE EXTENT
OF TERRITORY IN THE COUNTRY I
CHAPTER II
THE OFFICIAL .CHRONICLES OF THE CITY OF WATERBURY
THE FIGHT FOR CONSOLIDATION OF CITY, TOWN AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT
TAXATIOX CHANGES IN A QUARTER CENTURY THE TAX RATES AND THE
GRAND LISTS THE BONDED DEBT STREET IMPROVEMENT CITY HALL,
WATER, SCHOOL AND SEWAGE BOND ISSUES CITY OFFICIALS SINCE 1893
ITS LEGISLATORS MUTUAL AID SOCIETY POLICE DEPARTMENT START OF
THE DETECTIVE SERVICE THE CONSTABULARY FORCE HOW THE DEPART-
MENT WORKS THE TROLLEY STRIKE OF I9O3 SKETCHES OF FORMER CHIEF
EGAX AND SUPERINTENDENT GEORGE M. BEACH THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
ITS GROWTH IN NUMBERS AND EQUIPMENT THE FIRE OF I9O2 RECORD OF
BIG FIRES SINCE 1893 THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT 4
CHAPTER III
THE CITY'S PHYSICAL PROBLEMS AND CHANGES
ITS SITE NOT IDEAL RECONSTRUCTION OF LEADING THOROUGHFARES ITS NEW
BRIDGES THE WATER SYSTEM AND THE BUILDING OF ITS GREAT CHAIN OF
RESERVOIRS THE SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANT NOT YET COMPLETED LONG
LITIGATION WITH FACTORY' OWNERS SEWER CONSTRUCTION OF A QUARTER
CENTURY THE NAUGATUCK RIVER CONSERVATION PLAN THE WATERBURY-
DERBY BARGE CANAL PROJECT 3O
CHAPTER IV
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
OLD CITY HALL AND ITS AUDITORIUM MAYOR ELTON REMODELS BLTILDING ITS
DESTRUCTION BY FIRE NEW BUILDING PROJECTED BONDS VOTED AND COM-
iii
iv CONTENTS
PETITION ENDS IN SELECTION OF CASS GILBERT AS ARCHITECT DESCRIPTION
COST THE DEDICATION EXERCISES IN "OLD HOME" WEEK SALE OF THE
OLD CITY HALL PROPERTY THE WATERBURY COURTHOUSE DESCRIPTION
THE AGITATION FOR A FEDERAL BUILDING HOW ITS SITE WAS SELECTED
CONSTRUCTION — DESCRIPTION 42
CHAPTER V
PARKS AND CEMETERIES
FIRST MAP OF HAMILTON PARK ENLARGING THE CITY'S HOLDINGS LAND-
SCAPE WORK DRAINAGE FOR PONDS ANNUAL TAX PROVIDES FOR PARK
IMPROVEMENTS CHASE PARK CREATED SWIMMING POOL A BIG SUCCESS
ATHLETIC FIELD EQUIPPED PLAYGROUNDS BOUGHT FOR DIFFERENT SEC-
TIONS OF CITY THE MUNICIPAL FIELD DAYS THE LATER HISTORY OF THE
GREEN THE CLOCK AND THE FLAGSTAFF THE FRANKLIN STATUE THE
CITY'S CEMETERIES 52
CHAPTER VI
SCHOOLS, LIBRARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
GROWTH IN SCHOOL POPULATION TWO IMPORTANT CHANGES IN SCHOOL GOV-
ERNMENT ITS NEW MODEL HIGH AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL STRUCTURES
OUTSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICTS INCLUDED EVENING SCHOOLS MEDICAL IN-
SPECTION MANUAL TRAINING PLAYGROUNDS SALESMANSHIP SCHOOL
CONTINUATION SCHOOL VOCATIONAL SCHOOL VALUE AND EXTENT OF
SCHOOL PROPERTY PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS DAVID C. PORTER
BEQUEST LIBRARY AND MATTATUCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY 6l
CHAPTER VII
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION
THREE NOTABLE INDUSTRIAL TRIUMPHS ELIMINATION OF GRADE CROSSINGS
ERECTION OF THE UNION DEPOT DOUBLE-TRACKING THE ROADS ENTERING
WATERBURY COST OF IMPROVEMENTS MADE IN A DECADE IN WATERBURY'S
TERMINALS RAMIFICATION OF THE TROLLEY SYSTEM— ITS GROWTH FROM
HORSE CAR LINE TO THE NETWORK OF PRESENT EXTENSIONS THE GREEN
LINE TELEGRAPH, TELEPHONE AND EXPRESS 92
CHAPTER VIII
THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES OF WATERBURY, 1892-1917
the first church the second, third and bunker hill church, congre-
gational italian congregational st. john's and trinity episcopal
— st. paul's, waterville — first m. e., grace, st. paul's, south and
WEST SIDE HILL M. E. FIRST, SECOND AND GRACE BAPTIST GERMAN AND
SWEDISH LUTHERAN CHURCHES ADVENT CHRISTIAN BUCK'S HILL, UNION,
WATERVILLE CHAPELS IO7
CONTENTS v
CHAPTER IX
THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF WATERBURY
CATHOLIC POPULATION BY PARISHES — IMMACULATE CONCEPTION — ST. PAT-
KICK'S ITS DEDICATION SACRED HEART ST. ANN'S ST. CECILIA ST.
FRANCIS XAVIER — ST. JOSEPH'S — ST. THOMAS — OUR LADY OF LOURDES — ST.
MARGARET'S — BLESSED SACRAMENT — ST. MICHAEL'S — ST. STANISLAUS — CON-
VENTS AND SCHOOLS HOLY NAME SOCIETY SKETCHES OF MONSIGNOR
SLOCUM AND FATHER CURTIN — M'dVNEY DAY 122
CHAPTER X
CIVIC ARCHITECTURE OF A QUARTER CENTURY
BUCKINGHAM BUILDING, UNION DEPOT, CITY HALL, CHASE OFFICE BUILDING
AND WATERBURY CLUB LINCOLN BUILDING PLANNED BY FAMOUS NEW
YORK ARCHITECTS COURTHOUSE PLANNED BY WILFRED E. GRIGGS, ONE OF
MOST BEAUTIFUL STRUCTURES IN NEW ENGLAND — FINE BUSINESS BLOCKS
AND RESIDENCES, SUPERB WORK OF LOCAL ARCHITECTS THE VARIOUS ARCHI-
TECTURAL PERIODS AND BUILDINGS THAT ILLUSTRATE THEM WATERBURY'S
HOUSING PROBLEM I36
CHAPTER XI
BANKING AND INSURANCE
CAPITAL AND SURPLUS OF ALL WATERBURY BANKS DEPOSITS A FIVE YEAR
RECORD OF CLEARINGS THE YEAR 1916 A BANNER PERIOD FOR DEPOSITORS
IN SAVINGS INSTITUTIONS MONEY LARGELY INVESTED IN MORTGAGES ON
WATERBURY REAL ESTATE HISTORY OF ALL THE BANKS AND TRUST COM-
PANIES LIST OF OFFICIALS, PAST AND PRESENT RECENT INSURANCE
HISTORY 146
CHAPTER XII
HISTORY OF WATERBURY'S HOTELS
THE FIRE OF 1002 FOLLOWED BY AN ERA OF HOTEL CONSTRUCTION— THE CON-
NECTICUT HOTEL EXCHANGE HOTEL ENLARGED RAISING THE FUND FOR
THE ELTON THE SUBSCRIBERS ITS FIRST YEAR'S RECORD DESCRIPTION
STARTING THE "IDEAL TOUR" THE KINGSBURY AND HODSON's MANY
HOTELS SPRING UP DURING MUNITION-MAKING PERIOD 156
CHAPTER XIII
THE HOSPITALS OF WATERBURY
WATERBURY HOSPITAL IN ITS OLD QUARTERS THE NEED OF A NEW BUILDING
CONTRIBUTIONS POUR TX AND NEW HOSPITAL DEDICATED DONORS OF THE
vi CONTENTS
BUILDING FUND OFFICERS GROWTH IN RECENT YEARS THE MEDICAL
BOARD ST. MARY'S hospital, the inspiration of monsignor slocum —
ITS DEDICATION THE MEDICAL BOARD l6l
CHAPTER XIV
THE ORGANIZATION OF CHARITY
ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES CHANGE IN OFFICIALS SOCIAL
SERVICE CLUB AND ITS WORK AIDING THE RED CROSS THE BUILDING OF
LINCOLN HOUSE THE ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS LEAGUE STARTING THE OPEN-
AIR SCHOOL RECORDS OF TWO YEARS ITS OFFICIALS FIRST "UNITED
CHARITIES" — DAY NURSERY — THE SOUTH MAYD HOME — KING'S DAUGHTERS
BABY WELFARE STATION THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTERS DAUGHTERS OF
AMERICA SALVATION ARMY 167
CHAPTER XV
REVIEW OF WATERBURY'S MANUFACTURES
THE CENTER OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY ITS PERCENTAGE OF OUTPUT BY DECADES
— CENSUS FIGURES SHOW STRANGE CHANGES — PRODUCTION OF NEEDLES,
PINS, HOOKS AND EYES NUMBER AND WAGES OF WORKERS IN WATERBURY
FACTORIES SINCE 1 899 CENSUS FIGURES ON VALUE OF WATERBURY PROD-
UCTS WHAT WATERBURY MANUFACTURES CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
SEX OF WAGE EARNERS THE WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION LAW FACTORY
CONSTRUCTION SINCE I9OO l8o
CHAPTER XVI
THE LARGER BRASS COMPANIES
THE CHARTER OF 1 893 NEW CONSOLIDATION PERFECTED ITS FIRST BOARD OF
DIRECTORS CHANGES TO AN OPERATING COMPANY PURCHASES THE BUF-
FALO PLANT ITS BUILDINGS IN WATERBURY, TORRINGTON, ANSONIA,
KENOSHA AND BUFFALO NEW CONSTRUCTION EARNINGS OF THE COM-
PANY ITS BALANCE SHEET FOR I916 THE EMPLOYMENT BUREAU ITS
HOUSING PLANS TESTIMONIAL TO ITS PRESIDENT, CHARLES F. BROOKER
SKETCH OF HIS CAREER THE SCOVILL COMPANY- — ITS PHYSICAL GROWTH
ITS NEW BUILDINGS ENORMOUS EARNINGS OFFICERS OF THE PAST '
QUARTER CENTURY EMPLOYMENT BUREAU ITS HOSPITALS I99
CHAPTER XVII
OTHER BRASS AND BRASSWARE COMPANIES
THE AMERICAN RING COMPANY RANDOLPH & CLOWES COMPANY THE WATER-
BURY ROLLING MILLS A. H. WELLS & CO. — FRENCH MANUFACTURING COM-
PANY THE PILLING BRASS COMPANY WATERBURY BRASS GOODS CORPORA-
CONTENTS vii
TION — STEELE & JOHNSON — THE NATIONAL COMPANY — THE SMITH &
GRIGGS MANUFACTURING COMPANY — THE SHOE HARDWARE COMPANY —
PLATT BROTHERS & COMPANY NOVELTY MANUFACTURING COMPANY
BERBECKER & ROWLAND — MATTATUCK .MANUFACTURING COMPANY WATER-
BURY BUCKLE COMPANY — L. C. WHITE COMPANY NOERA MANUFACTURING
COMPANY THE GENERAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY THE AMERICAN
FASTENER COMPANY THE SIMONSVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY — THE
W VTERBURY METAL WARES COMPANY THE SOMERS COMPANY, INC. THE
CONNECTICUT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 2I4
CHAPTER XVIII
CLOCKS, WATCHES, PINS, NEEDLES, HOOKS AND EYES
THE WATERBURY CLOCK COMPANY THE BEGINNINGS OF THE "iNGERSOLL"
WATCH FROM THE "jUMBo" TO THE SMALL "DOLLAR" WATCH MAKING
ITS OWN CRYSTALS R. H. INGERSOLL & BROTHER BUY THE NEW ENGLAND
WATCH COMPANY PLANT THE STORY OF THE "LONG WIND" WATERBURY
WATCH THE LUX CLOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY THE AMERICAN PIN
COMPANY ITS PLANT ITS NEW BUILDINGS SINCE IO/XD THE OAKVILLE
COMPANY AND ITS EXTENSIONS OFFICIALS OF THE BIG PIN COMPANIES. . . . 224
CHAPTER XIX
MACHINE SHOPS AND FOUNDRIES
THE WATERBURY FARREL FOUNDRY & MACHINE COMPANY THE WATERBURY
MACHINE COMPANY THE E. J. MANVILLE MACHINE COMPANY THE BLAKE
& JOHNSON COMPANY THE WATERBURY TOOL COMPANY THE LUDINGTON
CIGARETTE MACHINE COMPANY THE ROWBOTTOM MACHINE COMPANY
ANDREW C. CAMPBELL, INC. HENDERSON BROTHERS SEYMOUR SMITH &
SON THE MANUFACTURERS FOUNDRY COMPANY THE WATERBURY CAST-
INGS COMPANY THE METAL SPECIALTIES COMPANY THE ATLAS MACHINE
COMPANY WATERBURY STANDARD TOOL AND MACHINE COMPANY WATER-
BURY PRESSED METAL AND TOOL COMPANY 23O
CHAPTER XX
OTHER MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS
THE INTERNATIONAL SILVER COMPANY — THE AMERICAN MILLS COMPANY — THE
WATERBURY PAPER BOX COMPANY THE WHITE & WELLS COMPANY THE
KALBFLEISCH CORPORATION THE WATERBURY BATTERY COMPANY THE
WILLIAMS SEALING CORPORATION THE WATERBURY JEWEL COMPANY THE
AUTOYRE COMPANY THE LANE MANUFACTURING COMPANY WATERVILLE
CUTLERY COMPANY THE MORDEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY THE H. L.
WELCH HOSIERY COMPANY THE WATERBURY INSTRUMENT COMPANY
THE WATERBURY ICE CORPORATION — THE SPRING LAKE ICE COMPANY — THE
HELLMAN BREWING COMPANY THE EAGLE BREWING COMPANY FEW
MANUFACTURING LOSSES 237
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXI
THE MASONIC ORDER AND OTHER FRATERNITIES
EARLY MASONIC HISTORY HARMONY AND CONTINENTAL LODGES MASONIC
CLUB CLARK COMMANDERY EUREKA CHAPTER, R. A. M. WATERBURY
COUNCIL, NO. 21 THE WATERBURY MASONIC TEMPLE THE ODD FELLOWS
NOSAHOGAN LODGE — ENCAMPMENT AND CANTON— DAUGHTERS OF REBEKAH
KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS B. P. O. ELKS KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS ANCIENT
ORDER OF HIBERNIANS UNITED WORKMEN FORESTERS LOYAL ORDER OF
MOOSE HEPTASOPHS EAGLES RED MEN UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS
WOODMEN AND OTHER FRATERNITIES FRENCH, ITALIAN, SWEDISH AND
GERMAN SOCIETIES — LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 245
CHAPTER XXII
COMMUNITY EFFORTS, PHILANTHROPY AND REFORMS
the y. m. c. a. and its growth fund for new building war-time work
the waterbury boys' club mr. combellacit's great work the
boy scouts of america the waterbeury industrial school and girls'
club the temperance movement in waterbury rescue mission
the community christmas tree the early closing movement
elisha Leavenworth's benefactions 270
CHAPTER XXIII
CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS, BUSINESS, SOCIAL, PROFESSIONAL
AND PATRIOTIC
THE WATERBURY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ITS BEGINNING AS THE MER-
CHANTS' ASSOCIATION THE WATERBURY CLUB ITS NEW HOME THE
COUNTRY CLUB WATERBURY DRIVING ASSOCIATION AUTOMOBILE CLUB
NATURALIST CLUB THE ELKS CLUB OTHER SOCIAL CLUBS PROFESSIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS WOMEN'S CLUBS AND SOCIETIES ATHLETIC AND SPORTING
ORGANIZATIONS THE G. A. R. AND W. R. C. WATERBURY's REPRESENTATIO>'
IN STATE PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES SARSFIELD CLUB 285
CHAPTER XXIV
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
WATERBURY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHURCH CHOIRS REKINDLE INTEREST IN
MUSIC THE BUCKINGHAM MUSIC HALL ORATORIO SOCIETY AND ITS CELE-
BRATED MAY FESTIVAL WATERBURY CHORAL CLUB GERMAN SINGING
SOCIETIES TFIEATRICAL HISTORY OF A QUARTER CENTURY THE ADVENT OF
POLl'S — -THE MOVIE PERIOD THE WORK OF EUGENE JACQUES AMATEUR
THEATRICALS 298
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER XXV
THE NEWSPAPERS
Jill WATERBURY AMERICAN — ITS NEW BUILDING THE EVENING DEMOCRAT
AND ITS SUCCESS DUE TO THE WORK OF ITS FOUNDER, CORNELIUS MALONEY,
AND PRESENT EDITOR, VINCENT MALONEY IN ITS NEW BUILDING THE
REPUBLICAN SOLD BY THE AMERICAN A SECOND SALE WITHIN A YEAR
RAPID OROWTH OF Till'. PAPER IS MOVED INTO ITS OWN BUILDING MODERN
EQUIPMENT POLICY APPROVED BY THE PUBLIC INCORPORATED PRESENT
OFFICIALS — WEEKLIES AND MONTHLIES, PAST AND PRESENT 307
CHAPTER XXYI
WAR AND MILITARY ACTIVITIES
WATERBURY's SHARE IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR CITY PAYS TRIBUTE TO
LIEUTENANT FRANK W. KELLOGG, ONE OF HEROES OF BATTLE OF MANILA
BAY, AND EIGHTY-TWO VETERANS OF WAR THE CALL TO ARMS IN I916
WATERBURY BOYS MOVE TO MEXICAN BORDER— OVATION BY CITY ON RETURN
DECLARATION OF WAR ON GERMANY FINDS WATERBURY IN MIDST OF
RECRUITING CAMPAIGN THE NATIONAL GUARD GOES TO THE FRONT THE
DRAFT THE LIBERTY LOANS THE RED CROSS WATERBURY's MANY PATRI-
OTIC EFFORTS TRIBUTE TO ROCHAMBEAU 312
CHAPTER XXVII
WATERBURY IN STATE AFFAIRS
WATERBURY HAS HAD FEW CITIZENS IN STATE OFFICES GEORGE L. LILLEY A
NOTABLE EXCEPTION HIS CAREER IN CITY POLITICS FOLLOWED BY ELECTION
TO THE LEGISLATURE AND THEN BY THREE ELECTIONS TO CONGRESS HIS
CONTESTS ATTRACT NATIONAL ATTENTION ATTACK ON GENERAL PAPER
COMPANY FIGHT ON SUBMARINE SCANDAL ADVERSE REPORT BY CONGRES-
SIONAL COMMITTEE RETURNS FOR VINDICATION AND IS ELECTED GOVERNOR
HIS SUDDEN DEATH 3IO,
CHAPTER NNVIII
WATERBURY CORPORATIONS, ACTIVE AND LAPSED
COVERING THE PERIOD FROM 1894 TO 1917 AND INCLUDING ALL OLDER COR-
PORATIONS THAT WERE LEGISLATED OUT OF EXISTENCE DURING THIS PERIOD 323
CHAPTER XXIX
\\ YTERTOWN AND ITS INDUSTRIES
POPULATION — CENTENARY CELEBRATION — CHURCHES — SCHOOLS — LIBRARY —
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT SOLDIERS' MONUMENT FIRE DEPARTMENT
VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY D. A. R. TOWN OFFICIALS CENSUS 339
x CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXX
WATERBURY'S NEAREST NEIGHBOR
COLONIAL AND LATER PERIOD EARLY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT THE RUBBER
INDUSTRY'S BEGINNING SCHOOLS CHURCHES HOWARD WHITTEMORE
LIBRARY THE BOROUGH GOVERNMENT THE WHITTEMORE BRIDGE
WHITTEMORE GIFTS BANKS PUBLIC UTILITIES FIRE AND POLICE DEPART-
MENTS NEW POSTOFFICE THE GENERAL WASHINGTON HOUSE THE Y. M.
C. A. AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS 346
CHAPTER XXXI
THE. TOWN OF SEYMOUR
ITS THREE NAMES POPULATION CHURCHES SCHOOLS LIBRARY SEYMOUR'S
BANK ITS MANUFACTURING INTERESTS TRANSPORTATION THE SEYMOUR
RECORD FIRE PROTECTION AND DEPARTMENT PARK AND MONUMENT
TOWN OFFICERS SOCIETIES AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 364
CHAPTER XXXII
THOMASTON, THE TOWN OF CLOCKMAKERS
ITS EARLY HISTORY THE BEGINNING OF ITS CLOCK INDUSTRY THE INVENTION
OF ELI TERRY AND SETH THOMAS THEIR MARVELOUS WORK THE GROWTH
OF THE INDUSTRY ITS SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, SOCIETIES, GOVERNMENT
ITS LATEST INDUSTRIES , 377
CHAPTER XXXIII
TORRINGTON'S RAPID GROWTH
SUMMARY OF ITS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ITS EARLY HISTORY TORRING-
FORD EARLY EXPANSION SCHOOLS CHURCHES BANKS CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE LIBRARY Y. M. C. A. HOSPITAL NEWSPAPERS ELKS' CLUB
HOUSE PARKS CEMETERIES BOROUGH HISTORY 385
CHAPTER XXXIV
WINSTED IN THE HILLS
ITS HISTORY FROM COLONIAL DAYS WINSTED BOROUGH POLICE AND FIRE
DEPARTMENTS LIGHTING SCHOOLS PUBLIC LIBRARY HOSPITAL
CHURCHES NEWSPAPERS ITS INDUSTRIES BANKS CHAMBER OF COM-
MERCE Y. M. C. A. WINSTED CLUB 405
Waterbury and the Naugatuck
Valley
CHAPTER I
A BIRDSEYE VIEW
IN TWENTY-FIVE YEARS WATERBURY HAS ABOUT GROWN OUT OF KNOWLEDGE OF ITS
OLD SELF — ITS INDUSTRIAL SUCCESS THE WORK OF MASTERFUL MINDS HER FAME
IN METAL MAKING NOW WORLD-WIDE — INTENSITY OF PRODUCTION IN NAUGA-
TUCK VALLEY HARDLY EQUALED IN ANY OTHER LIKE EXTENT OF TERRITORY IN
THE COUNTRY.
The difficulty which will confront future historians of Waterbury will always
be to meet the standard set by the "History of the Town and City of Waterbury,"
which is found on the shelves of every well selected Waterbury library. In that
work, covering the period from aboriginal days to the year 1895, Doctor Anderson,
Miss Sara J. Prichard and Miss Anna L. Ward told the story of the beginnings
of Waterbury and traced the progress of the town and city down to the date
of compilation, and did it with encyclopaedic completeness and accuracy. They
had access to all the important material which is in existence, the enthusiastic
co-operation of scores of people whose local knowledge and facile pens assisted
the compilers in preparing a local history probably never surpassed for the
loving thoroughness and care which were expended upon it.
Most of that work was compiled in the early '90s and in twenty-five years
Waterbury has almost grown out of knowledge of itself. A new generation
has lived new r chapters of the city's history and is already passing away, leaving
its story unwritten. The Anderson history was so exhaustive, so accurate and
so worthy that there will never be occasion for another similar work, but there
is room for a volume that will be a complement and a continuation.
It was this idea that led to the inception of a volume that is frankly a
supplement to the previous history, to deal with the events in the history of
Waterbury and the story of her progress during the last twenty-five years, and
to summarize also the stories of her sister communities in the Naugatuck Valley
whose interests and histories are so closely linked with hers.
As far as possible the lines of the preceding history have been followed. The
chapters which told the story of the city down to 1895 were taken up in turn
and carried down to date. Several considerations have prevented the editor
from doing this with the same completeness, however. The city is larger many
times, and to devote the same relative amount of space to each individual or
topic would be to expand the modest work originally contemplated into a small
Vol. 1— 1
1
2 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
book-shelf. The community is many times busier and the year selected for the
compilation of this work has been a period in which everybody in Waterbury
has been overworked. Yet delay would have caused a heavy financial loss which
would have been an injustice to the publishers. On this account, in several
respects there are deficiencies of which the editor is conscious. The chapter of
family records in the old history has not been carried down to date. It is
genealogical, rather than historical; it would have involved so much research
and correspondence extending over long periods and extending to so many
remote quarters, and would have required so much time and effort in some cases
to ascertain and verify records which would occupy only a few lines, that the
editor despaired of accomplishing anything of value in the allowable time.
Consequently, it has been left to some person or organization better fitted for
the task and to less crowded times. Still, it is hoped this volume will be found
of interest to readers and of value as a supplement, in spite of any deficiencies
which may be found to exist.
The Waterbury of the early '90s was a small city, which was just beginning
to realize that it was destined to become an important manufacturing center.
It had recently been a factory village, almost isolated from the main currents
of modern life. Its history was rich in reminiscence, but its industrial and
commercial future seemed more or less precarious. There seemed to be no
reason why it should survive, let alone greatly outgrow any one of a number
of other communities in Connecticut. Indeed, at that time the belief was preva-
lent that it was doomed to be abondoned by the brass industry, which was the
city's mainstay, that the great brass factories of the future would be built in
the West, nearer to the sources of supply of the raw materials.
One thing that the pessimistic prophets of that era failed to take into con-
sideration was that while Waterbury was largely dependent for her growth and
prosperity on one industry, and on the lines naturally growing out of it. she
understood her own lines of business thoroughly. In the light of events, wise
observers have been said that the industrial progress of Waterbury has after all
depended upon a comparatively few men, masters of their business, most of
whom have been born here and all of whom prefer to work here. Some of these
observers are disposed to narrow this down and say that Waterbury would not
have attained her present importance but for a few families, who had lived
and worked here. This is largely true. In many cases the same families, and
the same family names will be found for generation after generation, building
up Waterbury from her small beginnings, toiling, inventing, planning, con-
stantly improving;, expanding and enlarging, until at present the future of Water-
bury seems forever assured.
It has been remarked for years that wherever a man may travel, he will
find metal goods that have come from Waterbury. The sun, literally, never
sets upon the work of Waterbury's hands, and now, as in the past, her fame in
metal-working is world-wide. This draws to her the inventor, the skilled
mechanic and the merchant from all parts of the nation, and from distant lands.
They come here to develop their ideas, to gain their industrial training, to
supervise the manufacture of their wares. Sooner or later, everybody who has
a small article which can be made out of the metals in which we are skilled in
working, turns up in Waterbury to ask our price for making his goods, or our
help in devising cunning machinery that will turn them out for him. There is
a perpetual circulation between Waterbury and the markets of all the world,
from which the community perhaps gains as much or more than it imparts, so
that at the present time the city and her sister communities up and down the
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 3
valley arc known as reservoirs of mechanics and machinists of the highest
training, intelligence and inventive skill. The momentous years of 1915 and
1916, when the United States was so suddenly called upon to supply Europe's
desperate needs for war materials, were a wonderful illustration of this. Among
the first industrial communities which was set to work for Europe was this city.
Hence the giant industries of 1917 are the full fruition of years of her supremacy
in her own special methods and of the reputation which she has gained of
knowing her business thoroughly.
This is characteristic of the sister towns and cities of the busy 50-mile strip
which is down on the maps as the Naugutuck Valley. There is hardly in the
known world such a narrow compass of territory in which there is such an
intensity of production and such a genius for industrial leadership. It means
something that for years before it became a part of the larger transportation
system of New England, the valley's iron artery, the Naugatuck Railroad, was
remarked as having the largest earnings per mile of any stretch of railroad in
the country.
This was because Winsted in clocks and knit goods, Torrington in brass,
needles, and machinery, Thomaston in clocks, Naugatuck in rubber goods, Sey-
mour in fountain pens, copper and brass goods, Ansonia and Derby in brass and
machinery, rivaled or duplicated the success of Waterbury. Railroad operating
officials, who are put to their utmost to move the immense volume of traffic
developed in these communities, have come to regard the Naugatuck Valley as
one great factory city with a continuous freight yard covering the fifty miles
between Winsted and tide-water.
But it must not be supposed that this wonderful territory and population are
devoted exclusively to the material side of life in which they excel. The old
New England traditions stand. The inner life of religion, education and culture,
constantly renewing the faith and courage of the workers of the community,
are manifesting themselves more strongly than ever in movements for social
uplift and development, the cleaning and fit ordering of the community life in
its outward and inward manifestations, the patriotic pride that shows itself in
conscientious and unselfish devotion to the town, city and state, and in even
wider service. The perhaps more important non-material side of the story of
these communities, if fitly told, may nourish satisfaction with the past and hope
for the future even more completely, for it has been written that men shall not
live by bread alone.
CHAPTER II
THE OFFICIAL CHRONICLES OF THE CITY OF WATERBURY
THE FIGHT FOR CONSOLIDATION OF CITY, TOWN AND SCHOOL GOVERNMENT — TAXA-
TION CHANGES IN A QUARTER CENTURY — THE TAX RATES AND THE GRAND LISTS
THE BONDED DEBT — STREET IMPROVEMENT — CITY HALL, WATER, SCHOOL AND
SEWAGE BOND ISSUES — CITY OFFICIALS SINCE 1 893 — ITS LEGISLATORS — MUTUAL
AID SOCIETY — POLICE DEPARTMENT START OF THE DETECTIVE SERVICE THE
CONSTABULARY FORCE — HOW THE DEPARTMENT WORKS — THE TROLLEY STRIKE OF
I903 SKETCHES OF FORMER CHIEF EGAN AND SUPERINTENDENT GEORGE M.
BEACH — THE FIRE DEPARTMENT — ITS GROWTH IN NUMBERS AND EQUIPMENT —
THE FIRE OF I9O2 — RECORD OF BIG FIRES SINCE 1893 — THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
In 1893, the beginning- of the twenty-five year period of which this is a history,
Waterbury was in the midst of a determined battle against its existing cumber-
some and overlapping form of government. Under the old charter, there were in
force what might be termed three distinct local governmental powers, each with-
out authority over the other, and in many instances duplicating at great expense
to the taxpayers the executive functions.
This contest between a rapidly growing city and a town which embraced a
large rural population without municipal needs, had now been in progress for
some years. Recommendations had been made repeatedly by preceding mayors,
but action was always blocked by the fear of added taxation in rural districts.
In 1893, however, the population had grown to such an extent in some of the
outlying sections of the Town of Waterbury that the need of city betterments
in several directions was imperative.
In 1894 the first definite step was taken to bring about a consolidation or rather
a merging of the city, town and school governments which, however, was only
partially successful. On May 7, 1894, a committee consisting of Hon. E. G.
Kilduff, the mayor of the city, George E. Terry, then states' attorney, Judge
Charles G. Root and Thomas D. Wells, was appointed by the two governing bodies
of the municipality, the Board of Aldermen and the Court of Common Council,
with power to frame an amended or new charter for the City and Town of Water-
bury. This was to be submitted to a joint session of the council before or during
the period of the next session of the General Assembly.
The work was admirably conceived, and while many of its provisions were
nullified either by the council and by the Legislature, acting under pressure of
strong local opposition, these were adopted in later years, thus showing the fore-
sight and wisdom of the members of this able committee.
The report was submitted on February 25, 1895. An effort to have the pro-
posed charter voted upon by the people, which was merely an effort to delay the
proposed changes, was defeated. Many changes were, however, suggested.
On May 13, 1895, just a few days before the final opportunity for presenta-
tion to the Legislature, a committee consisting of Thomas D. Barlow and Daniel
Kiefer, urged immediate action and on May 23, 1895, tne proposed charter was
4
WATERBURY AND THE NTAUGATUCK VALLEY 5
officially presented at Hartford to the joint standing Committee on Cities and
Boroughs of the General Assembly.
The bill as passed, however, did not consolidate the city, town and school
governments, but in its regulation of the municipal government was a tremendous
step forward.
The act of 1895 extended the city limits to include the actual town limits.
This was a hrst great step toward the consolidation. It created five wards, abol-
ished the Court of Common Council, giving local legislative powers exclusively to
a Board of Aldermen. Tt provided for biennial elections, and in order to take the
affairs of the city as far as possible out of purely political contests, and to
concentrate the attention of voters on municipal needs, the date of these elections
was made the first Monday of each alternate October.
The charter provided for the election of a mayor, a city clerk, a treasurer,
a comptroller, thus abolishing the office of auditor, a city sheriff, two agents of
the Bronson Library Fund, and three aldermen from each ward. It provided that
the collector of taxes annually chosen at the town meeting of the Town of Water-
bury "shall be the collector of taxes of said city." It provided for a much-
needed Board of Public Works, which was to consist of the mayor, who was
ex-officio president, and five electors, named by the mayor and approved by the
aldermen. At least two of these must be of the opposition political party. It
created as subordinates to this Board of Public Works, the Bureaus of Water,
Streets, Sewers, Engineering and Assessment, the last-named a board in charge
of condemnations, benefits and damages arising out of improvements.
The charter gave the aldermen the power to appoint the city attorney. This
office was abolished in 1912, when a legal department with corporation counsel
and assistant was created.
The charter created a Board of Finance, consisting of the mayor, ex-officio,
the comptroller, the president of the Board of Aldermen, and three citizens
appointed by the mayor.
The charter created Department of Public Safety, officially known as a Board
of Commissioners of Public Safety. This consists of the mayor, ex-officio presi-
dent, and five electors, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the aldermen.
It has charge of the fire and police departments.
It created the Department of Public Health.
This was at least a basis, and a very effective one, upon which to build a modern
city government.
In 1899, the act creating Waterbury's present Department of Education was
passed, and this provided that ''it shall have the care and management of all
the property and affairs of the Center School District of Waterbury. After
this act shall take effect, no meeting of the Center School District shall be held
for any purpose whatever."
This was the second step leading to consolidation, and was brought about
largely by a prior compromise in the matter of taxation. It was agreed that
taxpayers living beyond the old city limits and within the town .limits should not
pay over one-half the tax rate of taxpayers within the old city limits. But as they
were compelled to support their own schools and had no right to the city's water,
sewers, police or fire protection, this concession to the taxpayers of the outside
district was less important than it might appear on the face of it. Tn 1899 the
tax levy for the 'nside district was 28 mills, and for the outside 14 mills. The
grand list for that year was $11,619,883 for the inside district and $689,321 for
the outside district.
The act reating the Department of Education had a far-reaching influence
6 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
for school improvements. While it limited its control to the schools in the old
city limits, it empowered all other districts in the old town limits to vote them-
selves in. This has been done among others by Waterville, Town Plot, Mill Plain,
Bunker Hill and Hopeville. It thus created uniformity where there was wide
disparity, and in many sections it abolished the antiquated system of school
visitors.
The Department of Education is now in charge of a Board of Education,
consisting of the mayor, chairman ex-officio, and nine members, three of whom
are elected biennially for a term of six years.
The great need for the many advantages which a city government provides,
was now more deeply impressed upon the outside districts by the continuing
increase in population. Opposition was breaking down.
The agitation of ten years and longer between city and town was finally
rewarded in igoi by the long-needed consolidation act, effective on the first
Monday in January, 1902. The important change was the placing of nearly all
the old duties of selectmen in the Board of Aldermen. In 1903 the authority
of selectmen over the poor of the town was placed in the hands of the Board
of Charities, which was then created. This leaves the work of making voters
their only important duty.
In 191 1 it was found necessary to pass a constitutional amendment so that
Waterbury could vote for city and town officers at the same time.
It was found necessary both in 1896 and in 1902 to change many existing
ordinances to conform to charter revisions, and this has been ably done by
committees appoined by the Board of Aldermen.
THE FINANCES OF A QUARTER OF A CENTURY
Taxation has always been the stumbling block to consolidation, and as usual,
it was a compromise that brought about the change. In 1901, two taxation
districts were created. The first district includes the entire town and the second
includes the old city limits. Until 191 3, the taxation in the second district was
segregated into what was known as the inside and the outside rate. The "out-
side" rate was of course the compromise, but it was only a question of time
when city improvements and city benefits would be town wide. The effort to
stop this segregation in 1905 and 1906 met with failure. In 1914, and since
then, the grand list and the tax levy were divided only into the first and second
districts.
While at each session of the State Legislature, many minor amendatory acts
have been passed for the benefit of Waterbury, for the purposes of history the
great changes took place respectively in 1895, 1899 and 1901.
Two tabulations will tell in figures the story of the growth of Waterbury ;
its grand list for twenty-five years from 1893 t0 l 9 I '7> ar >d its tax levy. It is
important to remember that up to 1902, the valuation was on a one-third basis.
After that date, under the state law, it was compulsory to assess on a 100 per
cent basis.
THE GRAND LIST SINCE 1893
1893— $10,575,103.
1894— $10,452,138.
1895— $10,593,419.
1896 $10,802,314.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
1897— $10,927,299.
1898 — $1 1,161,962.
1899 — $11,311,927; Inside Taxation District.
625,180. Outside Taxation District.
1900 — $11,619,883. Inside Taxation District.
689,321. Outside Taxation District.
M)Oi — $14,240,811. First Taxation District.
11.948,146. Second Taxation District, Inside.
852,141. Second Taxation District, Outside.
[902 — $43,791,382. First Taxation District.
37.332,117. Second Taxation District, Inside.
2,184,184. Second Taxation District. Outside.
1903 — $53,472,164. First Taxation District.
48,556,700. Second Taxation District, Inside.
2,369,254. Second Taxation District, Outside.
1904 — $48,493,629. First Taxation District.
41.357.537. Second Taxation District, Inside.
2,563,690. Second Taxation District, Outside.
1905 — $50,322,836. First Taxation District.
42,789,038. Second Taxation District, Inside.
2,777,847. Second Taxation District. Outside.
1906 — $53,193,784. First Taxation District.
44,965,922. Second Taxation District, Inside.
3,143,583. Second Taxation District, Outside.
1907 — $55,963,821. First Taxation District.
46,895,738. Second Taxation District, Inside.
3,495,368. Second Taxation District, Outside.
1908 — $57,790,131. First Taxation District.
48,131,658. Second Taxation District, Inside.
3,829,330. Second Taxation District, Outside.
1909 — $60,272,168. First Taxation District.
50,074,352. Second Taxation District, Inside.
4,011,869. Second Taxation District. Outside.
[910 — $63,654,111. First Taxation District.
52,247,869. Second Taxation District, Inside.
4,551,989. Second Taxation District, Outside.
191 1 — $66,385,300. First Taxation District.
54,041,099. Second Taxation District, Inside.
5,450,878. Second Taxation District, Outside.
1912 — $71,535,842. First Taxation District.
54,609,722. Second Taxation District, Inside.
4,950,324. Second Taxation District, Outside.
1913 — $74,526,824. First Taxation District.
55,676,872. Second Taxation District, Inside.
5.3^6,<;2i. Second Taxation District. Outside.
[914 — $77,022,701. First Taxation District.
67,491,635. Second Taxation District.
[915 $79,235,630. First Taxation District.
74,725,210. Second Taxation District.
[916 — $90,191,184. First Taxation District.
84,746,628. Second Taxation District.
191 7 — $104,600,000. First Taxation District.
102.000.000. Second Taxation District.
8 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
THE TAX RATE FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
From 1893 to 1900, the town tax rate was in effect. For these years, it was
as follows:
1893 — 3 mills.
1894 — 2 mills.
1895 — 5 mills.
1896 — 5 mills.
1897 — 5 mills.
1898 — 5 mills.
1899 — 6 mills.
1900 — 6 mills.
The city tax rate for the period of twenty-five years has been as follows :
1893 — 18 mills (one-third valuation).
1894 — 18 mills (one-third valuation).
1895 — 20 mills (one-third valuation).
1896 — 18 mills (one-third valuation).
1897 — 19 mills (one-third valuation).
1898 — 19 mills (one-third valuation).
1899 — 28 mills, Inside Taxation District (one-third valuation).
14 mills, Outside Taxation District (one-third valuation).
1900 — 32 mills, Inside Taxation District (one-third valuation).
16 mills, Outside Taxation District (one-third valuation).
1901 — 13 mills, First Taxation District (one-third valuation).
27 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (one-third valuation).
22 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (one-third valua-
tion).
1902 — 2>-7 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
9.5 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
7.5 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
1903 — 3.4 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
12. 1 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
9.3 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
1904 — 3 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
12 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
8.6 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
1905 — 3 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
1 1.8 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
8.9 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
1906 — 3.6 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
1 1.1 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
8.7 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
1907 — 5 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
9.8 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
7.4 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
1908 — 5 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
9.8 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
y.y mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
1909 — 5.7 mills, First Taxation District (full valuation).
9.3 mills, Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
7.65 mills, Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
1910-
- 6.00
mills,
10.00
mills,
8.22
mills,
1911—
-6. 7
mills,
9-3
mills.
7-76
mills.
1912—
- 6.33
mills.
9.66
mills.
8.075
mills.
1913-
- 6.33
mills,
13-99
mills.
14.405
mills,
1914-
-10.06
mills,
7.48
mills,
1915-
-10.50
mills,
8.70
mills,
1916 — 10.18
mills,
8.82
mills,
1917-
- 974
mills,
9.07
mills,
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation).
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Inside (full valuation).
Second Taxation District, Outside (full valuation),
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District (full valuation).
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District (full valuation).
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District (full valuation).
First Taxation District (full valuation).
Second Taxation District (full valuation).
WATERBURY S BONDED DEBT
In 1894, the net bonded debt of the City of Waterbury was $243,800.00. On
January 1st, 1917, it was $5,078,000.00. In this vast difference lies a great story
of achievement, for these totals represent a rapidly expanding municipally owned
water supply, the entire system of parks, many of our schools, and street improve-
ments, bridges, a sewage disposal plant, and the new city hall.
In 1896, with the water bond issues of 1895 and 1895 included, the debt had
grown to $904,000.00.
In January, 1902, the total bonded debt of the city had grown to $1,560,-
000.00, of which $830,000.00 were for water bonds.
The story of this debt can best be told in the last figures of the city
comptroller :
10
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
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WATERBl'RY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY 11
The curve of the rate of interest at which the city has offered its securities for
sale shows some interesting fluctuations. In 1894 and 1897, the city marketed
4 per cent bonds. In [901, [902, [904 and [905, it was able to place them at 3*/?
per cent, hut in [906 and 1007 the rate was up to 4 per cent again. In January,
1908, the rate was 4 per cent, but on July 1 . [908, 30-year bonds had to hear 4JA per
cent, although a simultaneous issue, maturing in from one to fifty years, was placed
at ^ l /2 per cent. In i<)oo and u>io, the rate was 4 per cent, in 19U it rose to
4 1 4 per cent, in [913 it was 4 ' _. per cent on 10-year bonds and 4J/4 per cent on
longer maturities, in 0)14 again 4 per cent and in 1915 and 1916 4'4 per cent.
waterbury's city officials
1893- 19 1 7
Waterbury has been fortunate in its city officials to whose credit must go the
record of vast improvements which have kept steady pace with the constantly
increasing population.
The mayoralty votes for this period are here recorded :
mayor, 1893-1918
Daniel F. Webster Jan. 4, 1892-Jan.. 1894 ;:
Edward G. Kilduff Jan. 1, 1894-Jan., 1898
Thomas D. Barlow Jan. 3, 1898-Jan., 1900
Edward G. Kilduff Jan. 1, 1900-Jan., 1904
John P. Elton Jan. 4, 1904-Jan., 1906
Wm. E. Idioms Jan. 1, 1906-Jan., 1910
Wm. B. Hotchkiss Jan. 3, 1910-Jan.. 1912
Francis T. Reeves Jan. 1, 1912-Jan., 1914
Martin Scully Jan. 1, 1914-Jan., 1918
Wm. H. Sandland Mayor Elect
VOTE ON MAYOR, 1893-I917
1893— Edward G. Kilduff (D.) 2,590
Daniel F. Webster (R.) 2,413
1895— Edward G. Kilduff (D.) 2,683
Daniel F. Webster (R.) 2,520
1897— Thomas D. Barlow (R.) 2,983
Edward G. Kilduff (D.) . 2,966
1899— Edward G. Kilduff (D.) 3,740
Thomas D. Barlow (R.) 2,232
1901— Edward G. Kilduff (D.) 4,141
George H. Cowell (R.) 3,699
1903— John P. Elton (R.) 4,7 82
James M. Lynch (D.) 3,805
1905— Wm. E. Thorns (D.) 4,694
Ralph X. Blakeslee (R.) 4.1 13
1907— Wm. E. Thorns (D.) 5,189
John E. Sewell (R.) 4.059
1909— Wm. B. Hotchkiss (R.) 4-79°
*Died November. 1896.
12 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Francis T. Reeves (D.) 4,304
Eben J. Lewis (Soc.) 172
191 1 — Francis T. Reeves (D.) 4,373
Wm. B. Hotchkiss (R.) 4,136
Frank O. Pilgrim (Soc.) 1,048
Wm. H. Noble (Proh.) 63
■ 1913 — Martin Scully (D.) 4,757
Albert F. Sherwood (R.) 4,189
Geo. L. Roehrig (Soc.) 816
1915 — Martin Scully (D.) 5,93i
John F. McGrath (R.) 3,854
Chas. Westendorff (Soc.) 248
1917 — Wm. H. Sandland (R.) 4,933
Martin Scully (D.) 4,296
Charles T. Peach (Soc.) 605
CITY CLERK, 1893-I918
Wm. R. Mattison 1893
Richard F. Grady 1894-1900
Michael J. Ryan 1900-1904
Geo. H. Nettleton 1904-1906
Wm. H. Sandland 1906-1914
Wm. F. Moher 1914-1918
Charles B. Tomkinson City Clerk Elect
COMPTROLLER, 1893-I918
James J. Cassin 1893-1900
Michael D. Russell 1900-1904
Aug. I. Goodrich 1904-1906
Michael D. Russell 1906-1910
Henry O. Wood 1910-1912
Michael D. Russell 1912-1918
Elmer E. Parker Comptroller Elect
TREASURER, 1 893- 19 1 8
Bernard F. Reid 1893-1894
Patrick F. Bannon 1894-1898
Geo. A. Gibson 1898-1904
Otis S. Northrop 1904-1906
• Edward L. Tuttle 1906-1910
Henry A. Hoadley 1910-1912
Edward F. Moran 1912-1918
Roberts G. Hannegran Treasurer Elect
-& i
TAX COLLECTOR, 1 893- 1 91 8
Chas. J. Griggs 1893-1898
Wm. E. Thorns 1898-1904
Edwin S. Hunt 1904-1906
Francis T. Reeves 1906-1910
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Arthur F. Ells 1910-1912
James R. Lawlor 1912-1918
Frederick C. Bauby Tax Collector Elect
TOWN CLERK, 1893-I92O
James J. Madden 1893-1895
Edward H. Belden 1895-1900
Frank P. Brett 1900-1904
John Blair 1904-1906
Frank P. Brett 1906-1910
Robert Palmer 1910-1920
JUDGE OF PROBATE, 1893-I918
Robert A. Lowe 1893-1910
Michael J. Byrne 1910-1912
Dennis J. Slavin 1912-1914
Arthur F. Ells 1914-1916
Dennis J. Slavin 1916-1918
CITY SHERIFF, 1893-I918
John W. McDonald 1893-1904
Wm. J. Rigney 1904-1906
Matthew J. Smith 1906-1910
David R. Walker 1910-1912
Matthew J. Smith 1912-1918
Robert C. Stone City Sheriff Elect
SENATORS FROM WATERBURY TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE, 1893-I917
1893 — Charles G. Root 1909 — Irving Hall Chase
1895 — Daniel F. Webster John Hurley
1897 — Edward D. Steele 191 1 — Lewis A. Piatt
1899 — Warren L. Hall Peter Lawlor
1901 — Wm. Kennedy 1913 — John F. McGrath
1903— Cornelius Tracy John Hurley
1905 — Henry H. Peck 191 5 — James A. Peasley
Finton J. Phelan John Hurley
1907 — Irving Hall Chase 191 7 — William J. Larkin
John Hurley John Hurley
REPRESENTATIVES FROM WATERBURY TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE, 1893-I917
1893 — John L. Saxe 1903 — John Lines
Linford Fenn Root Frederick E. Cross
1895-97 — George H. Cowell 1905 — Ralph N. Blakeslee
Warren L. Hall Samuel J. Marsh
1899 — Harold R. Durant 1907 — Augustus I. Goodrich
Frank P. Brett Abner P. Hayes
1901 — Geo. L. Lilley 1909 — Abner P. Hayes
Francis P. Guilfoile Augustus I. Goodrich
13
14
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
[9] r — Wm. E. Thorns
Walter E. Monagan
[913 — Wm. E. Thorns
James M. Lynch
1915 — Nathaniel R. Bronson
Jesse Devine
191 7 — Peter Fitzhenry
Patrick Healey
ALDERMEN, 1893-I92O
The following is a list of the aldermen in the order of their election, begin-
ning with those in office in 1893 and ending with those elected in 1917. Where
aldermen have been re-elected the name appears only once :
Charles B. Vail, James P. Morris, Wm. P. Loeffler,
George Barnes,
Frederick E. Cross,
Thomas D. Barlow,
Michael Begnal,
Daniel D. Gregory,
Edward B. Reilly,
John C. Allman,
Daniel Kiefer,
Patrick W. Halpen,
H. F. Sanford,
John H. Condon,
Frank I. Ells,
James H. Pilling,
Warren L. Hall,
Geo. A. Driggs,
J. Merrick Gallond,
Toseph N. Bernier,
Wm. H. Wright,
John H. Clohessey,
Joseph Weis,
John J. Scully,
John McElligott,
Edward Fagan, Jr.,
Eugene J. Sullivan,
Michael D. Russell,
Eric A. Thunberg,
Henry D. Hotchkiss,
Frank R. White,
Edward O. Goss,
Samuel W. Chapman,
James Callan,
Timothy L. Horigan,
Wm. C. Moore,
Patrick Holohan,
John Hurley,
John J. Brophy,
Ralph N. Blakeslee,
Arthur H. Tyrrell,
Robert Walker,
Frederick W. Chesson,
Chas. Boylan,
Daniel J. Mahaney,
Daniel Foley,
Thomas Kane,
John T. Phelan,
Frederick E. Stanley,
Louis Gates,
Geo. M. Beach,
Walter D. Ford,
James H. Murray,
Stephen J. O'Brien,
Edward Fagan,
Martin Keefe,
Chas. L. Holmes,
Frank Buck,
Thomas H. Hewitt,
J. J. Macauley,
Adam Callan,
Patrick Dunn,
Lawrence J. Tobin,
Frank X. Bergen,
Albert F. Sherwood,
Joseph S. Niell,
Wm. J. Larkin,
John P. Elton,
Louis E. Fitzsimons,
Thomas B. Walker,
Wm. J. Spain,
John H. Malone,
Peter Lawlor,
Daniel P. Noonan.
Edward H. Bowe,
Martin Scully,
John F. Gallagher,
John F. Hayes,
Robert Mackie,
Chas. A. Fine,
Charles A. Templeton.
Geo. E. Sellew,,
Herbert J. Phillips,
Chas. C. Dreher,
Leavenworth P. Sperry,
Edson W. Hitchcock,
Chas. H. Swenson,
Edward L. Bronson,
John M. Burrall,
Thomas J. Magner,
Patrick J. Reardon.
Michael Malone,
James A. Duggan,
Peter Griffin,
John F. Whalen,
Peter Hock,
John M. Gill,
Raymond C. Hutchinson,
Fred A. Jackie,
Wm. R. Keavene},
Theodore F. Nuhn,
Dennis J. Clancy,
Wm. T. Walsh,
Daniel T. Farrington,
Daniel Regan,
Alfred J. Wolff,
Mortimer Doran,
Ferdinand Wolf,
Wm. E. Treat,
George F. Lancaster,
Patrick H. Robinson,
Patrick G. Egan,
Michael J. Bergin,
John R. Logan,
Howard S. White,
Arthur B. Burton,
Miller C. Haynor,
Fred W. Nettleton,
Geo. Hargraves,
Philip J. Riley,
Geo. F. Mulligan,
Patrick McFadden,
J. J. O'Sullivan,
Edward W. Beach.
Joseph L. Stanley,
Charles Schmidt,
Addison A. Ashborn,
Archibald F. Mitchell,
Ralph E. Day.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 15
HISTORY OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
It is a far cry from the present police department of Waterbury, with its
seventy-nine members, its modern headquarters, its splendid alarm system, to
that humble beginning in 1854, when the Court of Common Council named the
eighteen constables for the newly incorporated city.
In 1893, the beginning of the quarter century of this history, the department
was still under a Board of Police Commissioners, acting under the charter
amendment of 1872. George M. Egan was chief and under him was a small but
exceedingly efficient force of men. It was on January 31st, of the year 1893,
that the Mutual Aid Society was formed and this, an independent beneficiary
organization, still thrives and pays out of its funds sick and death benefits. It
has, however, no connection with the police pension fund, which was authorized
by the Board of Public Safety on October 17, 1899.
It was not until August 5, 1902, however, that the Board of Trustees of the
Reserve Fund of the Police Department of Waterbury was formally organized
at a meeting in the city clerk's office, with Commissioners Franklin A. Taylor,
Dennis J. Lahey, Edward B. Hardie, Peter B. Reeves, and George B. Beach pres-
ent, all ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees. At this meeting Mayor
Edward G. Kilduff was elected president of the board. Commissioner Lahey,
secretary, and City Treasurer G. A. Gibson, treasurer.
For some time previous money derived from time lost by members of the de-
partment, properly found and not claimed, and five per cent of all liquor license
money, had been accumulating. On September 9, 1902, Treasurer Gibson re-
ported that he had followed out the authorization given him to purchase city
bonds, and that the financial condition of the fund was as follows :
84,000 City of Waterbury y/ 2 per cent, January, 1926, at 102.42 $ 4,096.80
$4,000 City of Waterbury 3^/2 per cent, January, 1925, at 102.35 4,094.00
£2,000 City of Waterbury 3^ per cent, January, 1924, at 102.28 2,045.60
Interest, 2.8 per cent 66.1 1
$10,302.51
Balance in savings bank 473°7
The fund is now nearly $40,000, and the income from numerous sources is
meeting all demands.
The first pension to be awarded from the fund was given to the widow of
Policeman Paul Mendelssohn, who, on March 8, 1903, was shot to death while
in the performance of his duty.
In 1896, under the revised charter, the department came under the super-
vision of a Board of Public Safety, the first members of which were Mayor
Edward G. Kilduff, Ellis Phelan, Wm. C. Moore, Eugene J. Sullivan, George A.
Driggs, J. Merritt Gallond.
In 190 1, the Gamewell police signal system, with twenty-two boxes, was
installed, and this has since been greatly extended.
On April 22, 1902, a detective bureau was formed, with Lieut. Thomas Dodds
in command.
In January, 1904, when Mayor John P. Elton took the presidency of the
Board of Public Safety, its members were: Geo. M. Beach, George A. Driggs,
M. J. Daly, Charles Y. Kent and Louis X. Van Keuren, and one of its first acts
was the installation of the Bertillon system of identification. The first patrol
wagon was put into service March 1. 1905. The first auto patrol wagon was
bought in 1910.
V
16 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
On October 28, 1905, Chief George M. Egan, who had been at the head
of the department since 1884, retired, and the present superintendent, George
M. Beach, was chosen to fill the vacancy. He had been a member of the Board
of Public Safety.
The police department lost some of its valuable records by the incendiary
fire of 1912, when the old City Hall was burned. Speedy repairs enabled the
police to re-occupy their old quarters within a month after the fire.
The three platoon system was put into effect on May 5, 191 3.
On January 13, 1916, the quarters in the new City Hall were occupied. A
description of these appears in the article on the new City Hall.
The Board of Commissioners of Public Safety at present (1917) is as fol-
lows: Mayor Martin Scully, chairman; John C. Downey, Alfred J. Wolff, John
O'Brien, James Crompton, Arthur B. Burton.
waterbury's constabulary force
' Early in 1915, several of the large manufacturing companies of Waterbury
co-operated with the city in the establishment of a special police or constabulary
force.
The Scovill Mfg. Co., with its extensive plant and equipment and large
factory additions under construction, faced the need of special protection for its
plant and employees. The problem was solved by the establishment, with consent
and co-operation of the city officials, of a uniformed constabulary, paid by the
Scovill Mfg. Co., but under the direct supervision of George M. Beach, super-
intendent of the Waterbury Department of Police. This took place on May
21, I915.
Up to that time the "constabulary" consisted of ten men only, all members
of the city supernumerary department, and was divided into two shifts, a day
and night detail, each of twelve hours' duration. From that time on the con-
stabulary gradually was increased in number until it reached its present size of
forty-seven members. The shortage of regular policemen to patrol the city
streets, however, resulted in the detailing of many supernumeraries to regular
police beats, with the result that the supply of supernumeraries for appointment
to the Scovill constabulary was finally exhausted. To offset this, the Board of
Public Safety took advantage of an ordinance giving the Board of Aldermen the
power to appoint special constables, by referring to them lists of names of ap-
plicants for appointment as supernumeraries, with the recommendation that they
be appointed special constables.
This procedure has since been followed out, and at present the constabulary
consists of about fifty per cent supernumeraries and fifty per cent special con-
stables. In several instances of late, where vacancies have occurred in the regular
police force, the appointees were supernumeraries who had been members of the
constabulary and whose work in that capacity had earned their appointment as
"regulars." The supernumerary's place was generally filled by the promotion of
a deserving special constable.
The constabulary is a department of police in itself, works on three eight-hour
shifts daily, a roundsman being in charge of each shift. The members wear
uniforms and are equipped like members of the regular force. The roundsmen
wear chevrons denoting their rank.
Aside from the daily compensation which they receive, members of the con-
stabulary are well taken care of by their employers, the latter assuming all expense
in fitting out the men with uniforms and equipment. In addition to this, the
WATER lil'KY AND TIIENAUGATUCK VALLEY 17
company has had rest stations erected, which are located on the various beats
surrounding the huge plant. To these the members are privileged to retire for their
lunch and for short rests.
In doing police duty, the men patrol only those thoroughfares adjoining the
property of the company, and are not required to do duty inside of the plant,
unless in cases of emergency. The company's patrol watchmen serve within the
gates and do not go outside except in cases of emergency.
The company has had erected five police signal boxes which are connected
with the Gamewell system at police headquarters, and from which the men send
in their regular "rings.'' A telephone and call for the patrol have also been
installed.
The regular department now consists of the following officers and men:
Superintendent, one police captain, one detective captain, two police lieutenants,
one detective lieutenant, four police sergeants, three detective sergeants,
three auto-patrol drivers, one court officer, two motorcycle policemen, one secre-
tary, one police matron, and fifty-eight patrolmen. Three doormen also do duty
at headquarters, but they are members of the supernumerary police force.
A similar auxiliary constabulary system has been established at the Chase
plant, where fifteen special policemen are employed, all patrolling the beats about
the plants, uniformed, and in command of the superintendent of police.
At the American Brass Works the constabulary, paid by the company, but
working in conjunction with the police, numbers sixteen men.
At several other plants the constabulary consists of from one to three men.
The detective department, in charge of Capt. Thomas M. Dodds, has made
a record for itself in the unearthing of crime. The most notable case was the
capture of the four men concerned in the murder, March, 1905, of the aged
recluse. Thomas Lockwood, who lived on the Park Road. The report that he
was a miser and had a trunkful of gold in the place had aroused the cupidity of
the men. Captain Dodds followed a number of clues, finally landing three of his
men in Brooklyn, N. Y. Three of them were given life sentences, and one, who
had helped to plan the murder, was given a five-year term.
The Carpenilla triple murder. September 2, 1907, was followed by some
of the quickest and best detective work ever done in the state. The murderer
had escaped and was caught on a train at Stamford on telegraphic orders which
had covered every possible avenue of escape from the city.
On September 20, 1909, occurred the murder at Union City of Stanislaus
Kulivinskis. In this case, one of the most harrowing on record, the detective
department worked up the evidence to the minutest detail, showing how the
woman in the case. Sophie Kritchman, had first shot the man. then allowed him
to lie dying in the woods for twenty-four hours. She then went back and cut
the man's throat with a razor. When she found later that he was still alive, she
again shot him five times and left him dead, as she thought. He was still breath-
ing when discovered and died in a Waterbury hospital. The case first ended in
a mistrial. Later, on a change of venue, she was convicted, together with her lover,
Joe Mitchell ; although the latter had no part in the actual murder he was given
a life sentence and the woman was sent up for from twelve to fourteen years.
THE TROLLEY STRIKE OF I9O3
On Sunday morning. January n. 1903. approximately one hundred and
fifty men in the employ of the Connecticut Railway & Lighting Company, then
operating the trollev svstem. refused to go to work. The immediate grievance
Vol. 1—2
18 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
which precipitated the strike was the discharge of Wm. Barrett, an employee, who
was president of the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees,
Local No. 193, and three others.
On Saturday night, January 10th, the men met and formulated demands
aside from that asking for the reinstatement of the discharged employees. They
asked for recognition of the union, a ten-hour day at 22^2 cents per hour for
all regular and extra work, and a company order that all employees join the
union within thirty days after employment.
Through its general manager, J. E. Sewell, the company rejected the demands
and informed the men that their places would be declared vacant if they failed
to report for duty within twenty-four hours.
On Monday, January 12th, no cars were regularly operated. On Wednesday,
Tanuary 14th, the attempt to operate two cars was met with obstructive tactics
by the strikers and their sympathizers.
On Thursday, a few cars ran on the Waterville line and later several were
operated on the Oakville branch. At Waterville one of the cars was badly
damaged by sympathizers, who had gathered outside one of the factories at the
noon hour.
On Friday, one hundred strike breakers were housed at the barns and the
Oakville, Waterville, North Main and Bank Street lines were operated, but not
on any regular schedule.
On Saturday night crowds gathered near the barns and a riot was started,
but no serious damage was done.
In the meantime the efforts of the business men and of Mayor Kilduff and
other city officials to effect a settlement failed completely, neither side expressing
a willingness to make concessions.
The strikers now began a systematic boycott of individuals and business
firms who showed evidences of friendliness' to the company, and a period of terror-
ism followed, in which the efforts of the company to run cars on schedule or at
night only partially succeeded. The patronage was lacking, even on the lines
which were operated with least opposition.
The riots increased in intensity and finally on Saturday night, January 31st,
approximately four thousand people gathered along the principal downtown
thoroughfares, the mob getting beyond the control of the police. Cars were
stoned, the mayor was hooted, and in one attack a dozen were injured. One
arrest was made by Dr. A. A. Crane, who witnessed an assault and captured the
boy assailant.
The officials called on the governor for aid, and the following day about eight
hundred men from the First and Second Regiment, C. N. G., arrived on the scene.
They remained until February 10th.
A period of comparative quiet followed, broken, however, for several suc-
cessive Saturday nights by small rioting and wrecking of cars.
Thus far in the strike many of the business houses sympathized with the
strikers, but deprecated the continuous extension of the boycott.
On Sunday night, March 8th, Officer Paul Mendelssohn, riding for the protec-
tion of passengers on a North Main Street car, was killed by four masked men
who had been lying in wait for their victim at Forest Park.
The public attitude changed immediately from neutrality or sympathy to a
determination to put a stop to outlawry. A Citizens' Alliance was formed and
$6,000.00 reward was offered for the capture of the murderers. The movement
was not confined to this action, however, but became a determined anti-boycott
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 19
crusade. In a few days it numbered 1,600 members and boycott cards which had
been posted throughout the city were torn down.
It was plain that the strike was practically ended and tbat violence had been
responsible for the defeat of the labor cause. It was not, however, until August
1 ith, that an official announcement declared it off. At that time, by agreement,
most of the old men were taken back, all, in fact, except the leaders of the strike.
On Monday, March 30th, eighteen were arrested by the police, of whom eight
were held for complicity in the Faber's switch affair of February 26th, which
was an assault on George Morrisetta and Wm. P. Merne. Six were convicted
of conspiracy and sentenced by Judge Wheeler to ten months in jail. These sen-
tences were never carried out. as the boys confessed and testified in the trial of
Willis Yandemark, for perjury, the following June. He was convicted and sen-
tenced to from two to three years in the penitentiary.
No one was ever arrested or convicted for the murder of Officer Mendelssohn.
REPORT OF CHIEF OF POLICE EGAN
The following is the report of the chief of police on the strike:
"On Sunday morning, January 11, 1903, Waterbury's first trolley strike was
inaugurated, and from that time until the following Thursday no attempt was
made to run cars on any of the lines in the city. During that interval considerable
excitement was caused by the arrival of non-union trolleymen, and the introduc-
tion by the strikers of vehicles of all kinds and descriptions for the conveyance
of passengers.
"On Thursday, January 15th, the Waterville and Oakville lines were opened,
the cars running from about 10 A. M. to 5 P. M., and upon the following day the
Bank and North Main Street line was opened from the depot to Hill Street.
"On Monday, January 19th, the South Main Street line was opened from
Exchange Place to Mill Street, and upon January 22d the East Main Street line
was opened to Wolcott Street. Thus far no attempt had been made to operate
the cars later than 5 .30 P. M., but on January 26th they were kept running during
the evening on the 'Waterville line, and on the following evening they were run-
ning to Oakville. On January 28th they continued to run during the evening on
the Rank and North Main Street line, and on the 30th they were running to
Xaugatuck.
"At that time the cars were running on schedule time on all the lines except
Bank Street, from the depot to Porter Street, and East Main Street from Wolcott
to Silver streets, and it was apparent that the trolley company could secure all the
men it needed to run its cars, notwithstanding the abuse they were subject to.
"On Saturday, January 31st, the cars were running on all lines the same as on
the preceding day and there was no indication of unusual trouble until about
9 P. M. Up to that time Exchange Place was filled with the usual Saturday
night crowd, but, contrary to the usual custom, the crowd seemed to increase as
it grew later, rather than diminish. About 9:30 I ordered the patrolmen from the
outlying beats to come to Exchange Place, and requested the manager of the
trolley company to withdraw the cars.
"About 10 P. M. the cars arriving in Exchange Place had many broken
windows, which sight seemed to add greatly to the joy of the crowd there as-
sembled. I again requested Mr. Sewell to withdraw the cars and was informed
that such orders had been issued.
"About 10:30 the crowd in Exchange Place was reinforced by those who had
attended the theaters, and from that time until about I A. M., when the last car
20 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
was put in the barn, the police were unable to protect the cars or the men running
them, from the mob.
"Up to that night this department had received no outside assistance, not even
from the local civil officers, nor had any been requested by the police authorities.
"After the riot, when it was evident to all that the police were not adequate
to preserve the peace, it was deemed advisable to call upon the county sheriff for
assistance, and upon the following evening about 10 o'clock, in response to that
call, the entire First Regiment, four companies of the Second Regiment, and
two machine guns arrived in the city, and in addition to the out-of-town troops
the two local companies were called into service.
"On the day following the arrival of the troops deputy sheriffs commenced
to arrive, so that on the Wednesday following fifty or more were in the city, a
large number of whom were placed on duty on the cars.
"On Thursday, February 5th, four days after their arrival the First Regiment
was withdrawn, and upon the following day the out-of-town companies of the
Second Regiment were relieved.
"On February 10th, all except about a dozen of the sheriffs were relieved, thus
leaving the situation again practically in the hands of the local authorities.
"About the middle of February the situation was again greatly aggravated
because of the strike of the linemen, lamp trimmers and inspectors of the lighting
system of the city, which system was also owned by the trolley company. Wires
were cut, lamps broken, the non-union linemen assaulted and abused, mostly in
the outskirts of the city, and the few men still here under the sheriff, as well as the
members of this department who could be spared from the trolley lines, were
kept very busy in their endeavor to protect the city from darkness.
"Thus far during the strike it was not deemed advisable to place policemen
on duty on the cars for the purpose of protecting them or their crews, but after
the assault on the conductor and motorman on the Waterville line on the evening
of February 26th, one policeman was placed on each car during the evening, and it
was not until after March 8th, when Officer Mendelssohn was killed, that two men
were placed on each car.
"The strike caused an expense for state troops of $15,000.00; for sheriffs,
$7,000.00, and for extra police, $5,000.00, a total of $27,000.00, and had the law
been the same then as at the present time, the city would have had to pay the
entire amount.
"It is not my purpose to enter into the full details of the trolley strike and
the disorder arising therefrom, with which you are familiar, nor to offer excuses
for the errors of judgment, if any there were, of those in authority, myself
included. I simply desire to call your attention to certain features of the case,
which, in my judgment, should the future develop like problems, can be more
readily solved, and at much less expense.
"In looking over the ground after the excitement is passed, it seems to me
that it would have been wise to have placed enough extra policemen on duty when
the strike was declared, not only to protect the cars and the men running them,
but also to maintain good order in the streets. Had there been fifty extra police-
men called into service when the strike was declared, and at least two of them
placed upon each car when they commenced to run, the rioting of January 31st
would have been unheard of, the so-called Waterville assault case, costing in
court fees not less than $3,000.00, would not have occurred, and Officer Men-
delssohn would not have been murdered. Had that course been adopted I firmly
believe that the disturbance would have ceased much sooner than it did. that the
presence of the county sheriff and State troops would have been unnecessary, and
FIRE CHIEF HEITMAN
SAMUEL C. SNAGG
Former Chief Engineer, Waterbury Fire
Department
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 21
the expense to the city for extra police would not have greatly exceeded the
amount actually expended for that purpose."
SUPERINTENDENT GEORGE M. BEACH
Superintendent of Police George M. Beach was appointed head of the
\\ aterbury Police Department while serving as a member of the Board of Public
Safety on May 9, 1905, but it was not until October 28, 1905, that he actually took
charge, replacing George M. Egan, who went on the retired list with half pay
for life. Before assuming charge of the department. Superintendent Beach was
employed by the Waterbury Clock Company.
Since taking office, Superintendent Beach has often displayed the executive
ability that pronounces his qualifications for the place, and has made a number of
changes in police methods both as to office systems and the detailing of men,
which have resulted in improved police service. He is a strict disciplinarian and
has always required his men rigidly to adhere to departmental rules and orders.
Superintendent Beach is a member of the. executive committee of the Inter-
national Association of Chiefs of Police, and it is due in part to this association
that he has been able to establish his department on its present excellent basis, and
keep in touch with police departments throughout the country.
SKETCH OF FORMER CHIEF GEORGE M. EGAN
Former Chief George M. Egan has an enviable record as head of the police
department of Waterbury for twenty-one years, and a member of the department
for twenty-nine years. Chief Egan was made a patrolman on April 8, 1876, and
promoted to the position of Chief on February 17, 1884. He retired October 28,
1905.
During his term of office, the detective force was established, the Gamewell
police signal system was installed August 17, 1901, and the Bertillon system
of identification was introduced.
HISTORY OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, 1893-I917
In 1893. the Waterbury Fire Department consisted of seven companies:
Phoenix Xo. i, Citizens No. 2, Monitor No. 3, Protector No. 4, Rose Hill No. 5,
Brass City No. 6, and Mutual Hook and Ladder No. 1. Samuel C. Snagg was
then chief engineer, and had under him 267 officers and men, mostly volunteers.
The permanent force consisted of the chief, four drivers, one tillerman, two
hosemen, and one ladderman, — a total of eight men. The remainder were volun-
teers. The property of the department was valued at $102,830. A fire alarm
telegraph had been installed with forty-six alarm boxes, at a cost of $9,800. It
was an up-to-date equipment for that period. In 1894, the volunteers had increased
to 290. In 1895, the paid force had increased to twelve, the volunteers remaining
about the same.
In 1897, the Burton Street building was put into service and housed Engine
Company Xo. 1 and Hook and Ladder No. 2. The permanent force now con-
sisted of eighteen men, the call force of nine men and the volunteers numbered
243, all divided into nine companies. In that year also the first combination
chemical and hose wagon was put into service with Phoenix Company No. 1.
In 1898, the volunteers were greatly reduced, no men remaining in
service and the permanent and call force was increased. In fact, the present
efficient paid department may be said to date from this period.
22 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
In 1899, the permanent force was again increased, the total number in service
being 17 officers and 144 men. In that year there remained only three volunteer
companies.
In 1902, after the big fire, a first-class Metropolitan engine and hose wagon
were added to the equipment. The total force remained about the same as in 1899.
In 1903 the Brooklyn Engine House was added to the department, in 1905
the Willow Street House was added, and in 1908 the Baldwin Street fire house
was opened, the Rose Hill Volunteer Company going out of existence.
In 1908, the equipment was enlarged by the addition of the first auto hose
wagon and a car for the chief engineer. In 1909 a chemical auto engine was added.
In 191 1, the first auto pump engine was placed with Engine House No. 5 on
East Main Street. The permanent force was now seventy-seven, and there were
no volunteers and no call men.
In 1913, a Robinson combination pump and hose auto was bought and
placed with Engine No. 5. This is the largest piece of equipment in the
department.
In 1914, the chief engineer, Samuel C. Snagg, retired after thirty-two years
as chief engineer, and his place was filled by the appointment of the present chief
engineer and fire marshal, Henry H. Heitman, who has just celebrated his twenty-
fifth year of service as a fireman. During that year, an underground cable system
for the alarms was put into operation.
In 191 5. two American-LaFrance auto pump engines were placed in service
with Engine Companies No. 3 and 4.
In 1916, a new 75-foot aerial truck was bought and placed with Truck Com-
pany No. 1. In that year, the headquarters of the department were moved to
the City Hall, and in April the truck company from the Scovill Street House was
transferred to headquarters.
In 1916, another combination chemical and hose auto was bought and placed
in headquarters. A triple combustion chemical hose and pump was bought and
placed in Willow Street.
The department in 191 7 consists of eighty-five paid officers and men. The
valuation of the property of the department on January 1, 191 7, was $322,365.00.
An interetsing fact in this history is the passing of the fire department horse.
There are today only six horses used by the fire fighting forces of Waterbury.
One of the most important additions to the department in recent years was
the installation of the semi-automatic central fire alarm station at headquarters
on Field Street.
The main function of the station is to receive and transmit signals from the
various boxes. The system, as constructed, may receive and record at the same
time eighteen alarms, and in turn transmit to the houses the alarms so that in a
space of three minutes there can be received at least two rounds of the eighteen
calls for record. The equipment was installed at a cost to the city of $20,000.
REPORT OF CHIEF SNAGG ON THE CONFLAGRATION OF FEBRUARY 2 AND 3, I902
The largest fire in the history of Waterbury occurred February 2 and 3, 1902,
and for the purposes of this history the most complete description of it is in the
official report of Samuel C. Snagg, then chief engineer of the department, which
follows :
February 2d, at 6:20 P. M., an alarm was turned in from box 7 for a fire
in the Camp Building, Nos. 108 to 120 Bank Street. The building was five stories
high with a ground dimension of 61 by 94 feet. The Reid & Hughes Dry Goods
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 23
Company occupied the three lower stories, the upper being occupied by a business
college and societies.
The first intimation of the fire was the blowing out of the windows on the
third floor front of the building, which was followed by a dense smoke and flame,
pieces of cloth on fire being blown to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the
street. The companies were prompt in responding and quickly had streams of
water playing on the fire. Hardly had they begun work ere the large windows
in the first story were blown out, followed by a sheet of flame which enveloped
the men, driving them from the immediate front of the building. The first-story
windows in the rear of the building were blown out at this time.
Upon my arrival on the fire ground I found the fire not only attacking the
buildings on the east side of Bank Street, but crossing the narrow passway in
the rear of the Camp Building and attacking the five-story Schlegel Building; a
line of hose was at once ordered and quickly gotten to this point and an effort
made to keep the flames from penetrating this building.
At 6:35 P. M. I ordered a second alarm turned in, thus calling the entire
department into service. The high wind prevailing at the time had increased in
force to such an extent that the flames were being driven with fearful rapiditv
across Bank Street, also attacking the buildings both north and south of the Camp
Building. The network of electric light wires on the east side of Bank Street
had begun to burn off and drop to the ground, or hang in mid-air, making it
extremely dangerous for the men and also making their efforts ineffective at
times. Realizing the perilous condition under which the men were working, I
requested Mayor Kilduff to notify those in charge of the pow r er-house that the cur-
rent must be cut off all wires running north from Meadow Street, and this was done
after warning had been given as to the responsibility should any lives be lost by
reason of the condition of these wires.
The flames, fanned by the increasing high wind, made rapid strides through
the buildings on the east side of Bank Street to the west side of South Main
Street, although heroic efforts had been made by the men to prevent it. The fire
had already invested the Schlegel Building and its destruction was but a question
of minutes. Aid had been asked from New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport, and
Torrington. each of these places responding with an engine and hose wagon.
Xaugatuck and Watertown, learning of our distress, sent men with apparatus,
who were soon at work at the points assigned them.
In the meantime, the fire had spread from the Schlegel Building to the Franklin
House and the New England Engineering Company's building on Grand Street.
Aid was rendered by several of our manufacturing establishments by sending hose,
which was used until after the fire was under control. On Bank Street, hard
work had been and was now being done to keep the flames from licking up all the
buildings from Center Street to Grand Street, and the efforts of the men were
finally rewarded. They had successfully cut out and saved a portion of the build-
ings on this street near these two points. The willingness of the captains to carry
out their orders to their men and the determination of the men "in an effective
way - ' to assist in executing those orders was very gratifying to me.
A hard fight was going on in South Main Street to keep the fire from crossing
to the east side. Although not wholly successful, a very creditable stand was
made, and both officers and men worked in a manner most commendable.
Grand Street at this time was losing its row of handsome five-story buildings,
the flames having gotten into them, spreading from the Franklin House to the
Jacques Building and not being checked until it reached within one building of
Leavenworth Street. The attempt to prevent the spread of the fire at this point
24 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
was not carried on with any degree of success whatever. Owing to the lack of
hose and the want of an additional hydrant on Grand Street, the chance of
preventing the destruction of these buildings was very discouraging. At this time
our own department had nineteen streams playing on the fire, water being taken
from fourteen hydrants. There was an abundance of water and good pressure,
but the streams most of the time were ineffective by reason of what was little
short of a gale blowing.
Upon the arrival of the firemen from other cities with their engines and
hose, they were assigned by me to hydrants and positions at the fire. They were
a most welcome addition to our fire-fighting force. These men, when on the
road to render us aid, fully realized the task our department had on hand, and
the willing and effective manner in which they carried out the work assigned them
was highly commendable.
Torrington men with their apparatus were first to go into action, their engine
being stationed at the hydrant at the corner of Grand and Canal streets and hose
laid in on Bank Street. New Haven was by some person without authority located
on lower Bank Street. As soon as this was discovered, the men were changed
to East Main Street, their engine stationed at the hydrant at the Piatt Building
and hose lined in on Bank Street. Hartford was stationed at the northeast corner
of Center Square, their engine attached to the same hydrant as our No. 2 engine,
and their hose laid in on South Main Street. Bridgeport was assigned to the
hydrant at the corner of Bank Street and Harrison Avenue, and their hose lined
in on South Main Street. Naugatuck and Watertown were assigned to posi-
tions on both Grand and South Main streets.
Up to the time of the arrival of the out-of-town companies, the firemen in
our department had passed through an ordeal such as has been the lot of but
lew men in their vocation. On the street, in buildings, and on the tops of build-
ings, they were constantly facing danger, and in one instance half the men of one
company providentially escaped being killed. When the spread of the flames
had been checked at all points and thoughts had been turned to relieving our
out-of-town friends, I received word that the Scovill House was on fire. This
was about 4 :2o A. M., February 3d, and at this time an alarm was being run in
from Box 7.
Chief Fancher of New Haven and I were engaged in conversation when this
message was received ; his men were directing a stream on the ruins of the
Tones & Morgan Building. Upon my giving him the information I had received,
he at once ordered his line changed and soon had a stream on the first floor of the
Scovill House. This fire originated in a basement room known as the stock-room.
Prior to my receiving word of this fire, Assistant Chief O'Brien had gotten a line
of hose, manned by Watertown firemen, into the basement and had a stream at
work. Orders were at once given for all hose leading from the engines to be
brought to different points about this building and in a very short time each
engine had powerful streams at work; hose leading from some hydrants were
changed, and additional streams directed on this fire. Fortunately, but one
engine had to change its location to reach this fire.
The building was situated very close to the buildings on the east side, being
separated only by a four-foot passway on the south side, Harrison Avenue
ran between it and the buildings there ; on the west, a driveway separated it from
the City Hall. Twelve streams were brought to bear on the Scovill House and
the buildings nearby. The fire made rapid strides through the burning building
in spite of the efforts of the men to prevent it, and its total destruction was a
quesion of a very short time. By hard work, the City Hall building was saved.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 25
On the east side there was a hard fight to keep the fire from the Hodson Building,
Exchange Hotel, and other buildings; on Harrison Avenue the boys were per-
sistent and kept the buildings at that point from harm.
This was certainly a grand fight, all things considered, and all who took part
can but look with pride upon their work. Without our out-of-town friends and
their engines and hose, this would have been a fire almost, if not fully, as dis-
astrous as the fire that had already filled the hearts of our people with terror. One
of the employees of the Scovill House lost his life in this fire. This was doubted
by many, but proved only too true, as his remains were found by parties excavat-
ing in the ruins some weeks afterward.
The origin of both these fires will, in my opinion, always remain unsolved. A
thorough investigation has been made, but nothing ascertained that would throw
any light on the real cause. Many theories have been advanced, such as incen-
diary, gas, hot air, combustion, electric light wires, and rubbish in cellar; these
were given to the fire in the Camp Building. To the Scovill House, incendiarism
or a lamp explosion in the stock-room were the most probable, especially the
latter, all electric currents and gas having been turned off from the city at the time
of the latter fire.
This conflagration brought out the necessity of a larger and better equipped
fire department ; the very forcible illustration that we should have none but a
paid service and that composed of men of stature, muscle and brain, endowed
with courage. The service rendered our city by the officers and men from other
towns will always be held in grateful remembrance by all our townspeople, and
I am pleased to say that the Honorable Board of Public Safety promptly took
recognition and so notified the proper officials in the cities and towns whose fire-
men were with us that eventful night and morning.
The firemen of our own department who performed service this memorable
night and morning are entitled to the highest praise which can be given them.
Their work on that occasion speaks volumes for them, and brings out vividly
the fact that Waterbury had firemen in her fire department who should be looked
upon with especial pride and who are sure to give a creditable account of their
services whenever called upon.
On Bank Street, thirteen buildings were totally destroyed, one being a tem-
porary two-story frame structure. Eight sustained a partial or slight loss. Of
the buildings totally destroyed, two were five stories, five four stories, five three
stories, and one one-story high.
On Grand Street, seven buildings were totally destroyed and seven sustained
a partial or slight loss. Of the buildings totally destroyed, six were five stories
and one four stories high.
On West Main Street, one building (Scovill House) was totally destroyed
and three sustained a partial or slight loss.
On Center Street, three buildings sustained a slight loss.
With the exception of the two-story frame structure, all buildings totally
destroyed were of brick and twenty-nine in number.
The area burned over was about two and three-fourths acres. Six million
gallons of water were used.
Value of buildings and contents, fire of 2nd $1,803,172.57
Value of buildings and contents, fire of 3rd 341,500.00
Total valuation $2,144,672.57
26 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Loss on buildings and contents, fire of 2nd $1,218,926.30
Loss on buildings and contents, fire of 3rd I 53>795- I 9
Total loss $1,372,721.49
Insurance on buildings and contents, fire of 2nd $1,498,911.00
Insurance on buildings and contents, fire of 3rd 172,600.00
Total insurance $1,671,511.00
Insurance paid on loss of buildings and contents, fire of 2nd $ 915,571.27
Insurance paid on loss of buildings and contents, fire of 3rd 69,207.78
Total insurance paid $ 984,779.05
FIRES OF A QUARTER CENTURY
The following is a record of notable fires of the past quarter century :
1893 — January. Clothing store of F. B. Merriman was burned; loss, $12,000.
April 19. Lilley Block (South Main Street) was seriously damaged; loss,
$64,000.
April 21. Casting shop of Holmes, Booth & Hay dens was burned; loss,
$2,600.
April 24. Office of Benedict & Burnham Mfg. Co. seriously damaged; loss,
$16,932.
Oct. 16. Factory of Waterbury Spoke and Handle Co. destroyed ; loss, $2,200.
1894 — February. Arcade Building, owned by R. K. Brown, was destroyed, and
the store of Miller & Peck, adjoining, was seriously damaged ; total loss, $80,000.
Dec. 28. This was the date of what is known as the "Piatt Block Fire." It
destroyed the second and third stories and their contents. The total loss was
$68,944.73. Total insurance paid was $65,147.93.
1895 — June. A fire started in the center of the Randolph & Clowes Mfg. Co.'s
plant. By hard work the firemen got the fire under control before it had spread
to any extent. So pleased was George H. Clowes, of the Randolph & Clowes
Company, that he called ex-Chief Samuel C. Snagg to his office, before the last
line of hose had been taken up, and presented him with a check for $100 for the
department. The loss at this fire was $17,511.60.
Nov. 20. On this date occurred what is known as the "North End Fire
Epidemic," five barns in the district being burned, causing damage to the sum of
$7,471.00.
1896 — January. The lamp department of the Holmes, Booth & Haydens Com-
pany was burned. Loss, $17,000.
March 28. This is the date of the Waterbury City Lumber & Coal Co. fire.
The loss was $59,855.34. Insurance paid was $55,825.34. Fifteen horses per-
ished in the fire. Lilley, Swift & Co., and Valentine Bohl & Co. also sustained
considerable loss from this fire.
Nov. 28. Jacques' Auditorium was burned. Loss was $13,459.
1897 — September. The Waterbury American Building was seriously damaged
Loss, $12,000.
1899 — November 1. South Waterbury (Simonsville) fire. Simon's Block,
corner Middle and Simon streets, and nine dwellings destroyed. Loss, $50,000.
1902 — Feb. 1-2-3. O n these dates occurred the big Waterbury fire.
1912 — April 22. The City Hall was totally destroyed. On the day of this
WATERBURY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY 27
fire, several other dangerous fires occurred, some happening when the City Hall
was burning, thus causing great confusion and excitement.
April 3. Baptist Church on Grand Street destroyed ; loss, $50,000.
1915 — December. Buckingham Street fire. Four fine residences destroyed.
Total loss was $35,000.
1916 — Jan. 3. The Connecticut Hotel on Center Street was gutted by a
mysterious fire, which resulted in the loss of one life and the destruction of the
hotel. Six other guests were seriously injured in escaping.
FORMER CHIEF ENGINEER SAMUEL C. SNAGG
»
Samuel Craft Snagg was born in Westport, November 18, 1846. He came
to Waterbury in 1856, and was educated at the high school. On March 5, 1862, he
enlisted at New Haven, in Company C. First Regiment, Connecticut Heavy Artil-
lery, the enlistment being credited to Waterbury. At Arlington Heights, in
March, 1864, he re-enlisted to serve until the end of the war.
Among the engagements in which he participated were those of Yorktown,
Fair Oaks, and Malvern Hill. He was mustered out of the Army of the James
at Alexandria, Va., and, returning to Waterbury, followed his trade of machinist
until his election to the head of the fire department, on February 3, 1882.
For nearly half a century he was connected with the fire department, having
joined it in February, 1868. He was a charter member of Monitor Hose Com-
pany, No. 3, and was foreman of the company for three terms. Previous to
his appointment as chief engineer, he had filled the offices of third and second
assistant engineer.
In 1914, he retired from the department. His loyal and faithful service was
acknowledged by an appropriate pension.
Chief Engineer Snagg succeeded Andrew W. Goldsmith. Following is a
list of those who have served as chief engineers from the date of the reorgan-
ization of the department until the city charter of 1853 to the present time:
Edward S. Clark, Henry Merriman, James P. Goodwin, Willis Merrill, B. P.
Chatfield, William Laird, Homer D. Bronson, Andrew W. Goldsmith, Samuel C.
Snagg and Henry W. Heitman, the present chief engineer.
CHIEF ENGINEER HENRY H. HEITMAN
Chief Henry H. Heitman, born in Brooklyn, N. Y., on August 14, 1864, was
appointed to the permanent force of the fire department on October 13, 1892.
He received his education in New York and later moved to this city.
Manifesting a keen interest in the work of the department, he served in the
volunteer ranks for a few years previous to his appointment to the permanent
force. He was assigned to duty at the Scovill Street house. His executive
ability was soon recognized, and on October 12, 1898, he was appointed captain of
the Scovill Street house. On October 14. 1909, he was appointed drillmaster.
He was promoted again on November 1, 191 1, to the position of deputy chief.
Upon the retirement of ex-Chief Samuel C. Snagg, Deputy-Chief Heitman was
honored by the appointment as head of the department, in which capacity he now
serves. On October 13, 1917, he celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his
connection with the department.
28 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT
The health department has kept, pace in its development, not only with the
growth of the city, but more important still, with development along protective
lines in all the larger communities of the country. Today in the matter of milk
inspection, of food inspection, of medical work in the schools, the city's health
program ranks with the best in the country.
Dr. C. W. S. Frost, who was the Waterbury health officer in 1899, 1900 and
1901, agitated strongly in that period for the registration of all cases of tuber-
culosis, although these years were exceptionally good from the standpoint of
health. It, was in 1902 that this suggestion took practical shape, a regulation
which is now an important feature of health work everywhere.
In 1902 Dr. Thomas J. Kilmartin was made health officer and had at once a
smallpox epidemic to contend with. In all ninety-seven cases were reported,
with a mortality of less than 3 per cent.
During 1904 the health department made two important advances. The first
was the establishment of a restricted bacteriological service for the confirmatory
diagnosis of disease and the other was the inauguration of medical inspection
of pupils in the schools. Two physicians were named to devote one hour of every
school morning to the examination of the children. A stricter enforcement for
the registration of tuberculosis cases was also instituted.
In 1905, after the legislature had granted the board of health power to make
its own regulations for the preservation of the public health, a sanitary code
was adopted for Waterbury by the Board of Aldermen at the suggestion of the
health board. This governed the handling of contagious diseases, the care and
sale of milk, and provided for the prevention of spitting in public places.
In 1906 the bacteriological work was greatly extended, and the code was
enlarged by the addition of regulations governing the condemnation of unsuitable
foods. Thus gradually the city was becoming thoroughly metropolitan in its
advanced health work. The death rate in that year was 15.6, which compares
favorably with other cities the size of Waterbury. The birth rate for 1901 was
28.6 per thousand, better than most cities.
During 1907 a movement for cleaning up the yards of the city was begun
and with the help of the clergy and other public-spirited citizens, proved a decided
success. This has been kept up ever since and has given Waterbury a decidedly
brushed-up appearance in its residential section.
In 1908 the mortality rate for Waterbury was 14.7 per thousand, the lowest
it had been in some years.
The Board of Public Health, acting under the new state law, organized in
January, 1910, with Dr. A. D. Variell, president; Dr. Charles Engelke, health
officer ; Dr. E. W. Goodenough, medical inspector of schools ; J. A. Lundin, sani-
tary inspector; Dr. D. B. Deming, bacteriologist; and Dr. P. S. Keeley, milk
and food inspector.
In this year the appearance of typhoid in the outlying watershed districts
caused an immediate inspection of the city's reservoirs, and a careful guarding
of its supply. These timely precautions saved the city from what might have
become an epidemic. The water, tested daily, was found to be in unusually good
condition throughout this period.
In 191 1 the appropriation was enlarged to admit of experimenting in the
analyzing of milk for the presence of bacteria, a great advance in the health
work of the city.
In 1912 Dr. T. J. Kilmartin was reappointed health inspector, which position
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 29
he still occupies. _T. F. Carmody was appointed president of the Board of
Commissioners of Public Health. This year was marked by the appointment of
a tenement house inspector, another great advance in health work.
In 1902 a crematory for the disposal of the city's garbage was installed at
Waterville and was in use until 1911, when a contract was awarded for removal
of garbage and its feeding to swine.
The garbage collecting and disposal is now in charge of a supervisor, John P.
Caffery. The city has sixteen wagons collecting. The garbage is used for feeding
swine, and is turned over free to those who collect. It is costing the city
approximately $27,000 a year to collect and dispose of its garbage. A decade
ago the cost, with a population much less, was over $24,000. The collection now
includes Waterville, East Farms, and Town Plot.
In 1916 the epidemic of infantile paralysis was met by a stringently enforced
quarantine. The result was that there were but seventeen cases in Waterbury.
In October of that year, however, there was a smallpox epidemic to contend with.
So drastic were the precautions that there has in 191 7 been no sign of a
recurrence.
In 1917 the Commissioners of the Board of Health officials are as follows:
Board members, Dr. J. D. Freney, T. F. Carmody, Charles A. Babin, Dr. W. L.
Barber, Sr., George Hargraves; health officer, Dr. T. J. Kilmartin; sanitary
inspector, Edward F. Callahan; milk and food inspector, Dr. Peter F. Keeley;
bacteriologist, Dr. T. F. Healey; tenement house inspector, Thomas B. Moran;
superintendent of garbage collection, John P. Caffery; medical inspectors of
schools, Dr. J. W. Fruin, Dr. C. A. Monagan ; school nurses, Miss Mary Monagan,
Mrs. Annie Grady; clerk and secretary to health department, Lucy J. Reid.
The latter was appointed the first clerk of the health department in 191 1 and
has since held that position.
THE BOARD OF CHARITIES
The work of the Board of Charities is devoted largely to the care of the city's
poor. The city almshouse, which, in 1902, was given the name of Brookside, now
houses about one hundred and fifty inmates, and this has been its average for
nearly two decades. It was built in 1892, and in the past twenty-five years many
improvements have been made, the exterior of the building remaining about as it
was at the beginning of this quarter century, 1893.
The average of tubercular patients sent by the board to the Meriden State
Sanitarium in the past five years has been about fifty; to the Shelton State
Sanitarium, about five : to the Hartford State Sanitarium, eight, and to the Nor-
wich State Sanitarium, two.
CHAPTER III
THE CITY'S PHYSICAL PROBLEMS AND CHANGES
ITS SITE NOT IDEAL RECONSTRUCTION OF LEADING THOROUGHFARES ITS NEW
BRIDGES — THE WATER SYSTEM AND THE BUILDING OF ITS GREAT CHAIN OF RESER-
VOIRS — THE SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANT NOT YET COMPLETED LONG LITIGATION
WITH FACTORY OWNERS SEWER CONSTRUCTION OF A QUARTER CENTURY THE
NAUGATUCK RIVER CONSERVATION PLAN THE WATERBURY-DERBY BARGE CANAL
PROJECT.
Rapid growth in population and a site remarkable for its natural perversities
have combined to make the ordering of Waterbury's physical growth a cluster of
complex and difficult problems. The growth in population has been far greater
than the average for New England cities, and has been equalled by few commu-
nities in the older states.
With all due respect to the forefathers who founded and developed Waterbury,
it must be conceded that they did not select an eligible site for a large industrial
city. When the reasonably level land which formed the river valley was occupied,
and the city began to expand in all directions, it was found that all future growth
must be uphill. The hills were many, steep and rocky, the ground was obdurate.
Builders have discovered that it may cost nearly as much to blast out a cellar as
to build a small house, while on the other hand a pocket of fine building sand, a
commodity which is as good as gold in Waterbury, may be unearthed and sold
for enough to pay for excavation. Most streets and many building sites call for
expensive grading and sometimes there is filling to be given away and at other
points it brings a premium.
On account of the hilly contours and gravelly soil, highways are expensive
to build and maintain and much permanent paving is needed, more in fact than
the city has been able to provide. Water and gas mains and sewer lines must
frequently be laid for considerable distances through rock.
The approaches to the city running through narrow valleys or over consid-
erable hills are difficult. When the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
double-tracked the Naugatuck division through Waterbury in 1905-7. it was
necessary to move or divert the Naugatuck River in places to find room for a
reasonably straight double track.
The supply of water, of which large quantities are necessary in brass manu-
facture for the washing of brass, is none too large for the future development of
the typical industry, and most important of all, the need for potable water to
maintain the constantly growing population in health and comfort, renders it
necessary to go farther afield. The central portion of Connecticut is so largely
urban that towns and cities are competing for available water supplies and
choice is no longer free. Pure water must be had and it is difficult to secure it
and expensive to deliver it.
The newest and most perplexing problem, because still only partially settled,
is the disposal of waste matter, in which the rights of the down-stream commu-
nities and property holders are involved, and the question of sewage disposal,
30
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 31
which has been vexing us for twenty years, still lacks its permanent solution.
This added anxiety, peculiar to an inland city with many neighbors, seems an
unjust addition to the physical difficulties with which Waterbury has so bravely
and successfully contended. The need of constant planning ahead with careful
foresight has been imperative because the growth of the city would not wait for
time to solve its problems. A community which grows from 28,000 people in
1890, to 45,000 in 1900, and 73,000 in 1910, and in 1917 knows it has 100,000 and
sees every prospect of doubling in size in the next twenty years, must needs take
time by the forelock and especially when it has more than ordinary natural diffi-
culties to master.
For these reasons the physical development of Waterbury has been largely
an engineering problem and it has been engineering of a most interesting kind.
It has been grappled with boldly and we have been fortunate in having at our
command men who with clear eyes and a faith in the city's future have done
enduring work wisely and economically so that the community and its industries
are not weighted down with hopelessly large obligations as a permanent mortgage
upon the future.
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF LEADING THOROUGHFARES
£^2_ Waterbury is principally indebted for the present satisfactory condition of
its physical equipment, and its consequent opportunities for further progress, to
the life work of one man, Robert A. Cairns, its city engineer, and to the co-opera-
tion and loyal backing which he has had from a long line of mayors and boards
of aldermen. It is due to the official co-operation which he has enjoyed that there
is no city department in which the evidences of growth for the^ past quarter
century are so clear as in that of the city engineer.
During this period the changes have been not alone in the mere housing of
its continually growing population and in the increase of its business buildings, but
far more notably in giving to Waterbury the physical aspect of a great municipality.
It is especially in the reconstruction of its leading thoroughfares that history
has been made in this quarter century.
The widening of Grand Street in 1909 and the widening of Meadow Street
during the same year, eliminating South Willow and Cedar streets, was a particu-
larly important betterment. This means that Meadow Street now runs continu-
ously from West Main to South Main streets, and that there is a fine approach
to the City Hall, Library and Union Station. The Liberty Street opening shortly
afterwards gave a 60-foot street between Bank and Benedict streets. The Jeffer-
son Street extension to South Elm Street in 191 1 was a splendid improvement for
that section.
The opening of Robbins Street in 1907 was another valuable improvement in
the highway system of the city.
In 1914 Thomaston Avenue was laid out with a uniform width of fifty feet
to Waterville. In that work the railroad agreed to re-locate the track of the
Naugatuck division and the city lowered by six feet for a length of 1,000 feet a
36-inch water main.
In 1914 also Watertown Avenue from Steele's Brook bridge to the Driving
Park was built by the state, the first piece of concrete highway in Waterbury.
During 1918. or as soon as the courts have settled on damages, Leavenworth
Street is to be widened to fifty feet between Grand and West Main streets.
The most important improvement of this character now begun is that on
Huntington Avenue. A street fifty feet wide from Thomaston Avenue to
32 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Watertown Avenue has been laid out. This, when completed, will eliminate a
detour of three miles to a section that has been growing phenomenally along
manufacturing and residential lines. There will be three bridges in this new
street. An expensive and much-needed grade crossing is to be provided for. It
is also the purpose of the city to locate the West Main Street steel bridge over
the Naugatuck River. Steele's Brook bridge will necessarily be raised.
There are today approximately twenty miles of permanently paved streets in
Waterbury. This reckoning includes all of those constructed of granite, vitrified
brick, bitulithic asphalt and asphalt, but not macadamized streets.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BRIDGES
Side by side with highway construction goes the providing of bridges and
Waterbury is necessarily a city of many bridges. ' The winding Naugatuck River
with its numerous tributaries would set us apart from our neighbors if it were
not for the building of bridges, large and small. This work has been particularly
active during the last ten years.
In 1905 the city constructed Steele's Brook bridge. This is a reinforced con-
crete girder bridge, sixty feet wide, with two 20-foot spans, the axis of the bridge
being at an angle of fifty-five degrees. This gave a 60-foot street where it had
been only eighteen.
The Grandview Avenue bridge over Robbins Street, built in 1907, is a rein-
forced concrete girder bridge with a 40-foot span. It carries across an important
highwav what will eventually become a noble residential boulevard.
In 1907 the Liberty Street bridge was built. This is a concrete arch bridge,
50-foot span, with a width of forty feet. It was necessary to go thirty-one feet
below the street surface to secure a foundation.
On September 9, 1916, the Bank Street bridge was opened, the people of
Brooklyn celebrating the event. This, the finest bridge in the city and erected at
a cost of $100,000, is a three-span masonry arch bridge, 49^ feet between para-
pets. The old steel bridge over Bank Street was repaired, painted, fitted out with
many new parts, and was re-erected over the Naugatuck River at Freight Street
in 191 5, giving the Brooklyn district another much needed outlet.
The four-track viaduct built by the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. Co. through the
central part of the city with its- abolition of grade crossings is a permanent guar-
antee against accidents.
During the past few years there have also been built the Hancock Brook
bridge at Waterville, fifty feet wide, with two spans of twenty-two feet each, and
a 10-foot rustic bridge, fifty feet long, built over Riverside.
A 50-foot girder bridge over the Mad River at Hamilton Avenue is now
under way. Plans are also complete for a new West Main Street bridge, which
is to be a three-span masonry arch bridge.
THE GROWTH OF THE WATER SYSTEM
Probably the most important element of the municipal plant is the water
supply system, the magnitude of which is not generally realized because while
its product is daily before the public eye, its parts are concealed or scattered in
remote districts. Yet its development during the last twenty-five years has been
so remarkable as to bespeak public attention.
It is a far cry from the spring at Willow and Grove Streets that 117 years
ago supplied W r aterbury's leading families with water, to the magnificent system
THE WIGWAM DAM AND RESERVOIR OF WATERBURY'S MUNICIPAL
WATER SYSTEM
THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, CARRYING BANK STREET OVER THE NAUGATUCK RIVER
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 33
which now fills the needs of a city of 100,000 population. Up to the year 1893
the city's water supply was drawn from the reservoirs which collected the drainage
of about one square mile and had a storage capacity of 180,000,000 gallons.
Today, after the extensions and growth of a quarter century, the supply is
as follows :
Gallons
East Mountain Reservoirs 137,000,000
Wigwam Reservoirs 730,000,000
Morris Reservoirs 2,000,000,000
2,867,000,000
Prospective Pitch Brook Reservoir 1,440,220,000
Total available in 1919 4,307,220,000
It was in 1893 tnat City Engineer Robert A. Cairns, far-seeing and almost
prophetic as to the growth of Waterbury, urged the adoption of new plans on a
far larger scale than had ever before been contemplated. It was with some trepi-
dation that the authority was finally granted and the work of giving Waterbury
an adequate water supply was begun, all plans and supervision being in charge
of Mr. Cairns.
The territory selected for the first gathering ground, — the Wigwam dam
and reservoir, — lies to the northwest of the city among the Litchfield Hills, at a
distance of about ten miles. It has an area of eighteen square miles, drained by
the West Branch of the Naugatuck River.
A careful investigation showed a population of less than twenty-five persons
per square mile of watershed. Probably two-thirds of the region is wooded,
farming being carried on to a less extent than was the case fifty years ago. The
main stream has an average inclination of about sixty feet per mile, and flows
through a valley having a narrow floor and very steep side hills. Tributaries to
the main stream have such inclinations as to make it out of the question to place
storage reservoirs on them. Owing to these unfavorable conditions it was found
advisable to limit the provision of storage to such an amount as would insure a
safe uniform yield in dry seasons of 600,000 gallons a day per square mile of net
land surface, or a total average daily yield of 10,500,000 gallons.
Construction was begun in the spring of 1893. It included excavation for and
construction of that part of the masonry dam below the bed of the brook, as well
as much stripping of the basin and grading portions of the pipe line. In the winter
of 1893-4 contracts were let for all work necessary to complete the reservoir to a
flow line of 410 feet, city datum, including dams, road diversion and stripping of
the basin, and for the completion of a 36-inch pipe line to the city. During 1894
and 1895 these contracts were executed, and a regular supply was furnished in
January. 1896. It was decided to postpone further work at the reservoir until
more storage should be found necessary, but the rapid increase in consumption,
due to the growth of the city and the very dry season of 1899, forbade longer
delay and in the years 1901 and 1902 the dams were built up to their full height
as planned. At the same time the additional flowage was thoroughly stripped of
top soil and all stumps and roots taken out.
The reservoir was first filled to its maximum level in December, 1901, the
water rising rapidly as a result of a severe storm. Observations since that time
indicate that the work is of excellent character, leakage through the dams being
Vol. 1—3
34 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
very small. On the down-stream face of the masonry dam, the sweating is so
inconsiderable that on a clear, bright day it practically all evaporates.
The reservoir has an area of 105 acres, and a total capacity of 730,000,000
gallons.
In 1904 under the direction of Mr. Cairns, a high service water supply was
planned and partially completed, giving the thousands who lived on high ground
an adequate supply of excellent drinking water for the first time. An inlet gate
house was constructed in East Mountain Reservoir and connection was made
by means of a pipe line with the high ground in the northeastern and northern
sections of the city. In 1907 the pipe line was extended clear across the city to
the Town Plot section, — a difficult piece of construction. Since then the Silver
Street pumping station and that known as the Willow Street pumping station have
been constructed with a view to filling the East Mountain Reservoir from the
Wigwam system and keeping up the water pressure. Both pumping stations can
be utilized to send water supply from the Wigwam reservoir to the East Mountain
reservoir when necessary.
The water tower on Hill Street, which has a capacity of 50,000 gallons, was
finished last year to supply a small population on the higher levels of that particu-
lar district. A smaller one is now being built in the Bunker Hill district to supply
Elmhurst.
In 1909 when Waterbury was estimated to have a population of 75,000, work
was begun on the second of the city's larger reservoir systems.
The Morris dam is located on the same stream as the Wigwam dam, a little
more than a mile farther up stream. In distinction from the latter, however, it
is an earth dam with concrete core-wall, a study of the conditions and available
material having proved an earth dam to be most economical. Its greatest height
above the surface of the valley is about one hundred feet and its length 1,100
feet, including the waste weir. It adds a storage of 2,000,000,000 gallons to that
afforded by the Wigwam reservoir.
The foundations of the core-wall rest on a ledge of solid rock extending
across the entire width of the valley. On the side slopes, rock is at a depth of
but a few feet from the original surface, while in the center of the valley the
foundation pit had to be carried down to a depth of forty-five feet by the use of
steel sheet piling.
The foundations of the head-walls, gate-house and spillway, located at the
west end of the dam, also rest on solid rock. A reinforced concrete drain tunnel,
about thirty-four square feet in section, is located on the ledge at the foot of the
western slope. This took all the normal flow of the creek during construction.
It leads into the down stream gate-house, where 24-inch pipe connections are
made with a pipe leading into the present city main from the Wigwam reservoir,
and with a blow-off into the lower reservoir. These gates, however, are not
intended for regular use, but only for exceptional occasions when the water
should become very low or when it may become necessary to draw off the reservoir.
The service gate-house is on the western end of the dam on the head-wall
between the embankment and spillway. It has six 30-inch intakes leading into
two intake walls. They are provided with separately operated gate valves.
A 24-inch pipe line is constructed around the Wigwam reservoir connecting
directly with the city service main below the Wigwam dam, so that if the city
wishes to discontinue the Wigwam service for any purpose, such as cleaning the
reservoir basin, it can get its supply direct from the Morris reservoir.
The third reservoir, known as the Pitch Brook reservoir, is to be built just
above the Morris dam and will add 1,440,200,000 gallons to the city's supply.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 35
The cost of tiiis will be very heavy, owing to present building conditions. The
construction of this reservoir necessitated the re-location of two highways, and
plans and profiles were made for this and the work has heen completed. The
Wigwam Brook diversion, which means a tunnel r,6oo feet long and a small
diversion dam, part of the third reservoir system, are well under way.
In a letter to the mayor, published August 15, 1917, Mr. Cairns commented
on the latest phases of the situation.
In his communication, Mr. Cairns said that considerable progress had heen
made in the making of surveys for the new pipe line from the Wigwam reservoir
and enough of the work had heen done to determine the availability of the pro-
posed line by way of Steele's Brook Valley. He added that some question had
arisen as to the possibility of using Steele's Brook Valley route or parallelling the
present line. The former would require two miles of tunneling. Mr. Cairns
continued :
"I have made some approximate estimates with results in which you are
interested. It appears that if we should decide to parallel the present 36-inch
main from the Wigwam reservoir to West Main Street, with a 36-inch main,
tin.' cost of the iron pipe f. o. b. Waterbury at present prices will be about $1,250,-
000. This is about hve times as much as we paid for 36-inch pipe in 1894. The
difference in weight between the 36-inch and the 42-inch is 30 per cent. So
far as 1 can jndge, the cost of such a pipe line will be approximately the same by
either route and at present prices will be about $2,000,000.
"The extraordinary and unprecedented costs with which we are confronted
are calculated to cause hesitation in committing the city to any definite plan in
regard to the proposed new reservoir and also it is evident that the work if
undertaken now will cost approximately twice what it was estimated at three
years ago. At that time I thought it could be constructed for $800,000, but it is
doubtful now if it can be built for less than $1,500,000."
Till-: UN COMPLETED SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANT
Waterbury had expended up to September 1, 1917, $440,345.10 on its sewage
disposal plant. This is approximately $11,000.00 more than the amount of the
authorized bond issue. It includes, moreover, the full amount of damages
obtained to date by the Piatt Brothers Company for sewage pollution of the
Xaugatuck during the legally prohibited months, — June 1st to December 1st.
This averages $2,800.00 a year, and the last amount paid the concern was
SjS.ooo.oo on April 13, 191 5, covering a damage period of ten years.
The sewage disposal plant, on which work was stopped in 1908, while giving
satisfactory service, is still far from complete. According to the original plan
about $300,000.00 would have built the pumping plant and the purification tanks
and beds. Today City Engineer Cairns figures that the cost would be two or
three times the figures as estimated in 1907 and 1908.
The history of the city's sew r age disposal plant dates back officially to 1890,
although its need had been apparent many years prior to that date.
In 1890 Mr. Cairns, heeding the many complaints from residents along the
banks of the Xaugatuck River, suggested the purchase of land so that sewage
could be conveyed to it and rendered pure for discharge into the river. In this
historical report the suggestion was first made for a survey and for plans for a
sewage disposal plant.
It was in a way also the first expression of the discontent that ended in the
long litigation with the Piatt Brothers Company. In [892 suit was brought and
36 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
the city began preparation for an elaborate defense. This litigation extended
over a period of over ten years. In 1898 came the first adverse decision in the
Superior Court, and the city appealed to the Supreme Court, which in 1903
awarded nominal damages to the Piatt Brothers Company, but by enjoining the
city from emptying its sewage into the Naugatuck River from June 1st to
December 1st of each year, made the damages continuing. Thus, by agreement,
the city is using its old sewage disposal system, but is paying $2,800.00 damages
yearly for the privilege.
In 1895, however, the city had concluded to begin active work on a sewage
disposal plant and engaged one of the best specialists available, Rudolph Hering,
of New York, to study its problem. In 1895 an d 1896, under the direction of
Mr. Hering and Mr. Cairns, extensive surveys were made by the engineering
department. In 1896, Mr. Hering recommended two methods. One was to use
a combined precipitation and filtration plant, to be established at a point on the
west bank of the Naugatuck River, about opposite Piatt's Mills. The other was
to dispose of the sewage by filtration, also, on a field west of Beacon Falls.
In discussing these recommendations, Mr. Cairns commented at length on
the unfortunate location of Waterbury, making necessary a very long and very
expensive outfall sewer. It was the construction of this outfall sewer for ten
miles through a very rugged valley that made the Beacon Falls plan hopeless.
In Mr. Cairns' opinion, construction would prove sufficiently expensive to Piatt's
Mills, only about a mile and a half below the main outfall at that time.
In 1903 with the litigation decided against the city, orders were issued for the
construction of works for the treatment of city sewage, the location to be at
Piatt's Mills. The city secured by condemnation the Bancroft and Upson Farms
between South Leonard Street and Piatt's Mills. There was little trouble in
inducing the railroad to change its tracks which crossed this land. Then began
the survey and mapping out of the whole territory south of Washington Avenue,
preparatory to gathering the different outfall sewers into one channel and to the
construction of a main carrier to the disposal fields.
The work of construction was necessarily slow. In 1907, a year of great
national depression, the sale of bonds was almost impossible. But all obstacles
were eventually overcome. Early in 1908, section one of the main carrier which
had been under construction for two years was officially put into use, together
with section two, which had been completed in 1907. These sections extend from
a point a little north of Washington Bridge, southerly along the west bank of the
river, through Railroad Hill Street to South Leonard Street, and again along the
west bank of the river to a point just above Nichols Falls, taking all the sewage
from the old Benedict Street trunk sewer, the Mad River interceptor, and the
Brooklyn main sewer, and conveying it to a temporary outlet into the Naugatuck
about opposite the old Smith & Griggs factory, a distance of 7,100 feet.
In his annual report for 1907, Engineer Cairns says: "The effect on the
Naugatuck River of keeping out the city sewage has been marked. Since high
water came and the old deposits were flushed out, the river as far as the temporary
outlet presents an appearance not perceptibly different from that at points above
the city."
Finally in [908 the engineer reported that the city now had a "continuous con-
crete conduit from Washington Avenue to Piatt's Dam, a distance of over two
miles, but also a good beginning of the purification works themselves, with main
carriers, the grit and screen chambers, and the controller house substructure. The
next steps will be the provision of a pumping plant and the construction of tanks
and beds."
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But there the story of the city's sewage disposal plant ends. No steps have
ever been taken to complete it.
In the year 1908 Engineer Cairns suggested that "it is possible to escape vio-
lation of the court injunction by closing the temporary outlet through which
sewage has been discharged into the Xaugatuck River, conducting the stream
through section 3 and allowing it to escape into the river below the dam."
But this suggestion, which required an appropriation to make it effective, was
also ignored. While the sewage disposal plant is effective as far as its carriers
are concerned, it is a disposal plant only in name.
A QUARTER CENTURY OF SEWER CONSTRUCTION
The problem of taking away and diverting its sewage has been one of the
great problems which is now in a fair way to completion. Most of the city is
sewered and construction is being pushed annually into new outlying districts.
I lere is the record of sewer construction for twenty-five years:
Linear Feet Linear Feet
1892 10,280 1905 8,667
1893 5-79 1 T 9o6 7.658
1894 4P74 T 9°7 5. 2 66
1895 6,456 1908 6,890
1896 2,068 1909 3,365
1897 3.7°3 x 9io 10,213
1898 10,389 191 1 7.083
1900 7,052 1912 14,205
1901 9. l6 9 l 9 l 3> IM53
1902 4,4 12 1914 6,036
1903 3.455 r 9*5 7,2i6
1904 7,822 1916 6,680
This, on January 1, 191 7, represented a total of 58.553 miles of trunk and
lateral sewers. The history of the sewage disposal plant which provided for a
main carrier to Washington Avenue will be found narrated elsewhere in this
chapter. The cost of that was $440,000.00. The city has authorized another
bond issue for the extension of the present main carrier from Washington
Avenue to Waterville. This will take the sewage out of the Naugatuck River
from Waterville to Piatt's Mills and give the northwestern portion of the city
effective sanitation.
THE NAUGATUCK RIVER CONSERVATION PLANS
For some years the manufacturing interests of the Xaugatuck Valley have
felt the need of materially increasing the summer stream flow of the Naugatuck
River. This need took its first practical shape fifteen years ago, when the Gen-
eral Assembly was petitioned by Charles F. Brooker, the late John H. Whittemore
of Naugatuck, the late Alton Farrell of Ansonia, and others, for the right to
generate power along the Naugatuck Valley. This, of course, was a purely
private project, but it served to call attention to the possibilities of conservation
throughout the valley.
The next step in this great project was a preliminary investigation covering
the feasibility of a large water conservation plan in the valley.
At the request of the Naugatuck Valley manufacturing interests, this was
38 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
undertaken by Charles H. Preston, consulting engineer. For four years he made
his investigations concerning possible locations of dams, approximate quantities
of water available for storage, and the extent to which the Naugatuck River
would be improved by such development. The men back of the project acted
with extreme care and wisdom in the matter, preferring to make no move until
Mr. Preston had made the most elaborate and thorough tests possible.
The four years' investigation took the shape of a great mass of figures and
engineering data. The recommendations made by Mr. Preston were entirely
favorable to the project. He advised the construction of a series of impounding
reservoirs on three of the large tributary streams of the Naugatuck River.
The first official meeting was held in Waterbury on April 13, 1914. At this
gathering, the following corporations interested were represented :
Charles F. Brooker, president, the American Brass Co., Waterbury; Lewis
A. Piatt, president, Piatt Bros. & Co., Waterbury; W. H. Wooster, secretary, the
Seymour Mfg. Co., Seymour; John A. Coe, Jr., vice president, The American
Brass Co., Waterbury ; Charles Miller, president, The Randolph & Clowes Co.,
Waterbury ; John P. Elton, treasurer, The American Brass Co., Waterbury ;
Thomas D. Bradstreet. general manager, Seth Thomas Clock Co., Thomaston ;
George A. Driggs, president, The American Pin Co., Waterville ; Edward L.
Frisbie, vice president, The American Brass Co.. Waterbury ; William E. Fulton,
president, Waterbury Parrel Foundry & Machine Co., Waterbury.
There was a general discussion on conserving water in the upper Naugatuck
Valley, in which possible developments on four different streams were con-
sidered, these streams having ample watersheds and resultant volume with the
following names and locations :
Hall Meadow Brook and Hart Brook, with sources in the southeasterly part
of the Town of Norfolk, Litchfield County, running southerly through the Town
of Goshen, into the Town of Torrington, and entering the Naugatuck River near
Brandy PI ill, so-called.
The East Branch of the Naugatuck River, with source in the southwesterly
part of the Town of Colebrook, Litchfield County, running southerly through the
Town of Winchester, entering the Naugatuck River at Torrington.
Lead Mine Brook, with source in the southeasterly part of the Town of Tor-
rington, Litchfield County, passing through the Towns of Harwinton and Plym-
outh, entering the Naugatuck River at ''Two Mile Bridge," so-called, in the Town
of Thomaston.
Of the four brooks considered. Lead Mine Brook appeared the most favorable
for developing into impounding or compensating reservoirs by reason of its many
natural features, such as large holding basins, highway locations, real estate
values, its twenty-four square miles of watershed, constant stream flow and solid
ledge rock across the entire valley, assuring excellent conditions for foundations
of masonry dams.
At the meeting, the following committee was appointed "to investigate the
feasibility of the scheme of developing impounding or compensating reservoirs
on Lead Mine Brook, Harwinton: Lewis A. Piatt, chairman, president Piatt
Bros. (S: Co.. Waterbury ; W. H. Wooster, secretary Seymour Mfg. Co.. Seymour;
( has. H. Preston, Jr., civil engineer, Waterbury.
Several meetings followed, at which committee's and secretary's reports were
made and finally the actual survey was begun September t. T914. This has been
throughout in charge of Mr. Preston and has been in progress for three years.
In this period the most careful rainfall and stream flow records have been
taken and tables of averages have been computed. This work is to be continued
WATERBURV AND THE XAIGATUCK VALLEY 39
for another two-year period, as it is considered essential that rive years of records
be obtained as the basis for the design of the contemplated work.
The engineers are fairly well agreed on the site of the proposed dams in the
light of the data now available.
The location of Xo. 1 dam would be approximately at the lower end of the
valley, opposite, in an easterly direction, from "Two Mile Bridge," on land of
the Plume and Atwood Mfg. Co.
The location of Xo. 2 dam would be across the properties of T. E. Negus,
The Plume and Atwood Mfg. Co., and the McBeth property, about two miles
north of Xo. i dam.
The location of Xo. 3 dam would be about three-quarters of a mile south
of llarwinton Center on land of William McConway and others.
The average annual precipitation for twenty-eight years, 1887 to 1915. in-
clusive, recorded by the late X. J. Welton, taken at Waterbury. has been 48.64
inches.
Some other precipitation records which are most interesting to this Xaugatuck
Valley project are those taken at Orford, X. H., on the Connecticut River,
Gaylordsville, Conn., on the Housatonic River, Framingham, Mass., on the Sud-
bury River, and Lake Cochituate, at Cochituate, Mass.
The straight line distance from these different points where records have been
taken to proposed Reservoir Xo. 2, Lead Mine Brook, are Orford, N. H., 175
miles : Gaylordsville, Conn., 25 miles : Framingham, Mass.. 100 miles, and Cochitu-
ate. Mass.. no miles. Xo records are quoted for a shorter period than five years.
At Orford. X. H., in a period of five years, 1901 to 1905, inclusive, the pre-
cipitation averaged 36.76 inches, with a run-off amounting to 59 per cent of such
precipitation.
At Gaylordsville, Conn., in a period of five years, 1901 to 1905, inclusive, the
precipitation averaged 47.86 inches, with a run-off amounting to 62 per cent of
such precipitation.
At Framingham. Mass., in a period of thirty-six years, 1875 to I 9 II < tne P re "
cipitation averaged 45.13 inches, with a run-off amounting to 47.2 per cent of
such precipitation.
At Cochituate, Mass., in a period of forty-six years, 1865 to 191 1, inclusive,
the precipitation averaged 45.83 inches, with a run-off amounting to 42.6 per cent
of such precipitation.
The average precipitation and percentage of same in run-off of the four above
described points is as follows :
Precipitation, 43.89 inches.
Percentage of precipitation in run-off, 52.7.
The only actual construction work done on the project so far has been a
series of core borings taken on the center line of proposed Dam Xo. 2. These
show a favorable formation of rock and were entirely satisfactory from an engi-
neering point of view.
The engineers expect that work on Dam No. 2 will begin at the end of the
live-year period of taking precipitation and stream flow records. This, of course.
depends largely on the amount of water it will be found is available.
The project, when completed, will cost several million dollars, but it will have
an enormous influence on the industrial development of the valley, giving con-
tinuous and greatly increased water power, and incidentally flushing the Xauga-
tuck River to a sanitary condition throughout the year.
By the development of Dam Xo. 2. with its drainage area of 14.060 acres, or
40 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
twenty-two square miles, it will be possible, with a spillway at elevation 610, to
impound 3,413,917,000 gallons.
This huge reservoir would cover 316 acres, contain 10,477 acre ieet > would
cost with a cyclopean masonry dam $914,600, on the basis of $87.29 per acre foot.
The length of the dam across its crest from east to west side of valley would
be 1,300 feet, with a maximum height of 142 feet above bed of stream.
This will set back a pond of nearly 2.y 2 miles in length, from 500 to 1,800 feet
in width and varying in depth from 35 to 142 feet.
While this may appear rather a bold undertaking in the matter of dam con-
struction, there is apparently no feature against such a structure, it has numerous
natural facilities to favor its development, such as ledge foundation across the
entire valley, plenty of good quality stone for use in the cyclopean construction,
sufficient water to fill four times during each year, and a small amount of new
highway construction.
THE WATEREURY-DERBY BARGE CANAL PROJECT
The appropriation by Congress of $25,000 for surveys and investigations into
the cost of a proposed barge canal from Waterbury to tidewater at Derby is the
first step toward Federal aid in a great project for the further industrial develop-
ment of this city.
The agitation for this canal has been quietly growing for years, but its recog-
nition by Congress, as worthy of preliminary survey work marks the first great
step toward realization. In 1894, the men behind the project were satisfied
with a proposed fifty-foot canal. Today the Government is considering a seventy-
foot canal.
Engineers have in a general way estimated its cost at from $25,000,000 to
$30,000,000.
As outlined by Engineer Charles H. Preston, the several heights above tide-
water at Derby Junction and the different towns and cities along the route to
Waterbury are approximately as follows :
Ansonia is twenty-five feet above tidewater. Seymour is ninety feet above
tidewater. Beacon Falls is 120 feet above tidewater. High Rock Grove is 140
feet above tidewater. Naugatuck is 180 feet above tidewater. Union City is 200
feet above tidewater. Flats, rear of Waterbury freight yard, 262 feet above tide-
water. Brown's Meadows, Waterbury, are 271 feet above tidewater. Ansonia is
twenty-five feet higher than Derby Junction, Seymour is sixty-five feet higher
than Ansonia, Beacon Falls is thirty feet higher than Seymour, Naugatuck is
sixty feet higher than Beacon Falls, Union City is twenty feet higher than Nauga-
tuck, and Waterbury is sixty-two feet higher than Union City.
The distances along the proposed line of barge canal between Derby Junction
and Waterbury are as follows : Derby Junction to Waterbury is 18.50 miles,
Derby Junction to Ansonia is 2.13 miles, Ansonia to Seymour, 3.84 miles; Sey-
mour to Beacon Falls, 8.48 miles ; Beacon Falls to Naugatuck, 4 miles ; Naugatuck
to Union City, .072 mile ; Union City to Waterbury, 4.33 miles. Other distances
would be as follows : Derby Junction to Seymour, 5.97 miles ; Derby Junction to
Beacon Falls, 9.45 miles; Derby Junction to Naugatuck, 13.45 miles; Derby
Junction to Union City, 14.17 miles. Distances toward the south would be:
Waterbury to Union City, 4.33 miles; Waterbury to Naugatuck, 5.05 miles;
Waterbury to Beacon Falls, 9.05 miles ; Waterbury to Seymour, 12.53 rniles ;
Waterbury to Ansonia, 16.37 miles; Waterbury to Derby Junction, 18.50 miles.
By the installation of eleven locks, varying in height from twenty-one to
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 41
thirty feet, which are considered feasible in canal construction and operation at
present, barges containing freight could be delivered through to Waterbury from
tidewater or to any other town along the line of canal.
Mr. Preston ably summarizes the advantages to be obtained from the con-
struction of a canal, and the following is a quotation from one of his articles on
i he subject :
"That a barge canal between Waterbury and tidewater would be a decided
asset to the state can be appreciated, when it is shown that about three-quarers of
the entire area of the state is within twenty-five miles of some part of the canal
and may, therefore, be reached by motor truck over trunk line highways, con-
structed and maintained on a par with any in New England. The areas covered
by New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury and intermediate sections, the
four largest cities of Connecticut, and representing about 70 per cent of state
industries, 75 per cent of state population, are within thirty miles of our proposed
project.
"Many admirable factory sites would be created by the construction of a canal
and hundreds of acres of land now lying dormant would be open for full develop-
ment.
"Critics of our proposed canal project have brought forth the claim that to
operate a canal of 18.5 miles length, with a difference in elevation of 262 feet or
14.16 feet to the mile, is not practical. In rebuttal of this statement, I will say
that in the New York State barge canal, a model of the very latest design in canal
construction, with a developing cost upwards of one hundred and fifty million
dollars, is operating between Waterford and Crescent what is termed "The
Waterford Flight," an assembled group of three locks, all within a mile's dis-
tance, with a total lift of 103.5 Ieet -
"This is as much grade in a mile as our proposed project would average in
seven miles.
"I claim the proposed barge canal between Waterbury and tidewater at
Derby worthy a thorough investigation, from the following points of view :
"1. Industrial conditions in our Naugatuck Valley demand this canal in addi-
tion to the New Haven Railroad.
"2. With a possibility of the sewage problem of the valley being solved,
from this viewpoint alone, I claim the project worthy an investigation.
"3. With operating expenses about one-seventh the amount of those of steam
railroads, it is conclusive that this barge canal would be the popular carrier.
"4. Prosperity's growth has been such that the railroads have been unable to
keep astride and transportation facilities at present are 100 per cent deficient.
"5. Naugatuck River has a drainage area of 326 square miles and the annual
precipitation for a long term of years is 48.8 inches, which virtually means there
are annually passing down through our valley 107,000,000,000 gallons at Water-
bury, 129,000,000,000 gallons at Naugatuck, 157,000,000,000 gallons at Seymour,
164,000,000,000 gallons at Ansonia, and 166,000,000,000 gallons at Derby, an
overabundant amount, in my opinion, if properly conserved, to place the practi-
cability of our proposed barge canal beyond the question of doubt.
"6. Waterbury has grown nearly double during the past decade, will continue
to do so in the future, and in order to cope with transportation facilities we must
provide an outlet by water such as are now had by New Haven. Hartford and
Bridgeport."
CHAPTER IV
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
OLD CITY HALL AND ITS AUDITORIUM MAYOR ELTON REMODELS BUILDING ITS DE-
STRUCTION BY FIRE NEW BUILDING PROJECTED BONDS VOTED AND COMPETI-
TION ENDS IN SELECTION OF CASS GILBERT AS ARCHITECT DESCRIPTION COST
THE DEDICATION EXERCISES IN "OLD HOME" WEEK SALE OF THE OLD CITY HALL
PROPERTY THE WATERBURY COURTHOUSE DESCRIPTION THE AGITATION FOR A
FEDERAL BUILDING HOW ITS SITE WAS SELECTED CONSTRUCTION DESCRIP-
TION.
For fourteen years after its incorporation as a city, Waterbury's municipal
meetings were held in Gothic Hall, on what is now Phoenix Avenue. The town
and the city voted in 1867 to issue bonds for erecting a city hall on West Main
Street, and this building served for thirty-five years when it was destroyed by an
incendiary fire.
When it was planned, the city lacked not only proper accommodations for city
offices and courts, but with the increasing population there was no hall large
enough for the public gatherings and entertainments. Consequently the second
floor was made a large auditorium with stage, in which "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
alternated dates with "Hamlet." Political rallies, caucuses and fairs were held
there in season, the chairs were cleared away for dances, and its use as a public
hall even lasted long enough for moving pictures to be shown there. This was not
primarily an amusement enterprise. Admission was by invitation for the purpose
of demonstrating to possible purchasers of stock a device by which the moving
picture machine and the phonograph could be synchronized. Those who attended
heard grand opera stars sing the sextette from Lucia while they witnessed the
actions of the singers as shown in moving pictures, while Harry Lauder marched
grandly across the screen in exact time to the accompaniment of one of his songs
reproduced on the phonograph. It was apparently convincing, and on the strength
of it, some of the stock was sold here, but the enterprise never succeeded com-
mercially. This was one of the last occasions on which the hall was used for
entertainment purposes and was in the autumn of 1910.
The opening of theaters and newer halls easier of access had led to a falling off
of the demand for the use of the City Hall Auditorium. As early as 1904 the
receipts from rentals had fallen so low that the auditorium was regarded by those
in charge of it as waste space. In addition the city departments on the main floor
were badly cramped for room. The aldermen met in a chamber which had room
for desks for members of the board and for a dozen spectators to sit or a score
to stand. The town clerk's records were kept in a vault barely large enough for
storing the books and with no accommodations for searchers.
Mayor Elton secured from the General Assembly in 1905 authority to issue
bonds for $75,000 to enlarge and remodel the city hall, but it was found that the
building which was planned could not be secured within the appropriation and the
project was dropped. Some interior changes were made in the police station and
the city hall. Towards the end of Mayor Hotchkiss' administration the project
42
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 4:j
was agitated again. After some evidence of division of opinion among the public,
it was decided to spend $40,000 in making changes. The auditorium was converted
into an aldermanic chamber and police drill hall, larger quarters were provided
for the city clerk and city comptroller, expensive modern vaults and tiling devices
were installed for the town clerk's records and a portion of the basement was set
apart for a public comfort station. Contracts were let late in 191 1 and the com-
pletion of the work lapped over into .Mayor Reeves' administration.
The remodeling was just about completed, although some portions of it had
not yet been utilized, when a tire, originating among some paint pots and builders'
rubbish, not vet removed from the cellar, destroyed the building on the night
of April _'_'. M)i_'.
That was a wild night for Waterbury. Half a dozen small tires broke out and
there were thirteen alarms in all, the horses that drew the apparatus were exhausted
with the task of dashing from one part of the city to the other, and the militia was
called out to help the police watch the business district. Investigation next day
showed that a number of fires had been started by an incendiary. Mayor Reeves
called a special meeting of the aldermen next morning to pass resolutions offering
a reward for the arrest and conviction of the firebug, providing for new automobile
fire apparatus and the appointment of a commission to build a new City Hall.
Eventuallv, the origin of the fire was traced. Bernard C. Murray, son of a
former fire official of Hartford, was arrested in Massachusetts for a trivial larceny
in connection with a mysterious fire. Suspicion had been aroused in several quar-
ters by his movements. He was charged with starting the fires which burned the
Wilson House in Xorth Adams and a sanitarium and several other buildings in
Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He finally confessed having started the fires in
Waterburv, giving an account of his movements here, after being positively identi-
fied by Mrs. Minnie R. Russell, who had met him face to face in a hallway in the
Chelsea rooming house on West Main Street, near the city hall, just after he had
started a blaze in a closet. She claimed the promised reward but the aldermen
decided not to pay it on the ground that Murray had not been arrested and con-
victed of the crime. This, however, was because the Massachusetts authorities had
equally good evidence against him, but declaring him insane, had committed him
to an asylum, from which he was released rather mysteriously within a year, as
cured. The Waterbury American, indignant at the refusal to pay the city's reward
to Mrs. Russell, raised a fund of several hundred dollars by public subscription
and paid it over to her. Mrs. Russell's husband is in the employ of Price & Lee
of New Haven, publishers of the Waterbury City Directory.
The city hall fire left untouched the three adjoining buildings, the old police
-tation, the three-story brick building at Leavenworth Street and Harrison Avenue,
used as a fire headquarters and first occupied on December 24, 1807, and the City
Hall Annex, having the old Bronson Library Building as its nucleus and accommo-
dating numerous city offices. The city hall proper, however, was non-tenable,
excepting that the town clerk's office in the northeast corner was only slightly
damaged. Town Clerk Robert Palmer, refusing to be separated from his newly
acquired vaults, hired carpenters, made repairs and retained the use of the office
until transferred to the present quarters in the city hall. The offices of the mayor,
city clerk and city comptroller were removed to quarters in the Lillev Building
on West Main Street, where most of the city's meetings were held. \ store on
Center Street was rented for the use of the city court.
44 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
ERECTION OF THE NEW CITY HALL
The destruction of the old city hall necessitated immediate action for the
proper housing of the city departments and for the safety of future public records.
Judge Francis T. Reeves, who was mayor at the time, appointed a committee of
ten to handle the situation.
This committee effected little. The sentiment was divided between rebuilding
on the old site and selecting a new site for a new city hall. Several were sug-
gested — the Green, the Merriman property, which was then found to be not for
sale, and the present site among the others. The old site had its champions, and
those favoring a new site were divided between several locations. For some time
the local papers were flooded with communications from interested citizens in
which the question was discussed at length. The aldermen refused to come to a
decision and ordered a referendum election, but this was inconclusive. Another
referendum found a bare majority voting in favor of the present site. Meanwhile,
the board of aldermen sanctioned the appointment of a city hall commission,
which body was to transact all business in connection with the construction of the
new municipal building. The original membership of the commission was as
follows: Mayor Francis T. Reeves, chairman; Patrick F. Bannon, George A.
Driggs, John P. Elton, Daniel T. Farrington, alderman ; John F. Garron, Edward
O. Goss, Raymond G. Hutchinson, alderman ; John Hurley, alderman ; Fred A.
Jackie, alderman ; William J. Walsh, alderman.
The resignation of Mr. Hutchinson in March, 1914, left a vacancy to which
Charles A. Colley, president of the chamber of commerce, was subsequently
appointed, and when death claimed John F. Garron, Alderman Mortimer Doran
was chosen to fill the vacancy. The first meeting of the commission was held
August 1, 1912. In January, 1914, Mayor Martin Scully succeeded Francis T.
Reeves as city executive, and automatically became head of the commission.
One of the first acts of the commission, following negotiations for the transfer
of title to the city government of the property on which the present building
stands, was to hold a competition conducted by Prof. Warren Powers Laird, of
the University of Pennsylvania, to select an architect to design and supervise the
construction of the new city hall. The plans of Cass Gilbert, of New York, were
selected. On July 8, 1914, the Geo. A. Fuller Construction Company of New
York signed the contract to construct the building, and in the early part of August,
1914, ground was broken. The appointment of two supervisors, Charles M. Gasson
for the construction company, and Frederick C. Peckwell, for the city's interests,
occurred shortly after.
The building was officially opened during "Old Home Week," November 25,
26 and 27, 1915, although many of the departments did not occupy it until
January, 19 16.
The city hall is situated on Grand Street, adjoining Library Park, and com-
manding an approach to the center of the city through Leavenworth Street.
The entourage which fronts the length of the building on Grand Street is its
show feature. Standing within a low rounded marble coping, which surrounds it
on all sides and separates it from the broad encircling sidewalk, it is laid out in a
formal Colonial style which harmonizes with the delicate red and white ornamenta-
tion of the fagade. At the edge of the sidewalk at regular intervals are placed five
decorative, 18-foot, bronze lamp standards. The approach to the entourage is by
white marble steps, flanked on either side by smaller auxiliary stairways, also of
white marble, which lead to the main section, containing the decorative features.
The fountain is centered in a small court, the pavement of which is of red brick
THE XEW CITY HALL. WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 45
inset with white marble bands enclosing a large circular slab. At the main entrance
are two decorative vases or urns of white marble, several feet in height, from the
base of each of which, through the mouth of a carved satyr, jets a stream of water
flanking the central fountain.
The building, which is of Colonial design, is built around a rectangular court,
laid out as a sunken Italian garden. It is not only the office building of the city
and town officers, and the home of the probate and city courts, but also the head-
quarters of the lire department and the police department. The east wing is
devoted to the tire department and the west wing is devoted to the police depart-
ment. The main portion is three stories high, with a roof and a cupola tower, with
a 4-dia] clock, gilded dome and weather vane. The other three sections are but
two stories high.
Its exterior is of Vermont marble and North Haven brick, marble blocks com-
prising most of the walls of the first story and marble pillars running to the roof
between the windows of the main portion of the building. At the east and west
ends, on marble slabs set into the walls, are appropriate inscriptions and on ten
circular marble slabs set into the walls of the third story are ten different designs,
in bas relief, significant of the city's industries and character. A marble fence
surrounds the roof of the main building.
The collector, assessors, probate court, board of charities, town clerk, and city
clerk, have offices and vaults on the main floor. The basement provides janitors'
rooms and storage rooms, heating plant, a store for the board of charities, labora-
tory and nurses' rooms for the board of health, testing rooms and storage rooms
for the engineering department, and rooms for the sealer of weights and measures.
( >n the second floor are the offices of the mayor, the personal tax collector, the
board of public works, city court judge, a jury room, lawyers' room, juvenile court
room, city court clerk's and prosecuting attorney's offices. At the Field Street end
of the building, on the second floor, is the aldermanic chamber, which occupies
both the second and third floors, and at the west end of the building is the city
court room, also extending through to the third floor.
On the top floor are the drafting rooms and offices of the city engineer's depart-
ment, probation officer's room and offices for the corporation counsel, health officer
and inspectors and board of health, registrars of voters, city sheriff, park superin-
tendent, building inspector, and telephone exchange.
In this portion of the building, the corridors are built with marble floors and
the trimming is white wood, enameled to an ivory finish. Throughout the rest of
the building, the floors are terrazzo and the woodwork oak.
On the Field Street side is the fire headquarters with the apparatus room,
repair shop, firemen's waiting room and toilet rooms on the main floor. On the
second floor are the offices of the board of public safety with offices and rooms also
for the officers of the fire department and bed rooms for twenty-one firemen.
There is a fine shower bath room and toilets for officers and men, linen closets,
and a recreation room, some of these occupying the rear portion of the building.
In the police wing of the building there is a large drill hall in the basement,
locker rooms, sergeants' room, smoking room, storage rooms, toilets and shower
bath. There is also a large room in which the homeless are provided with sleep-
ing accommodations.
On the first floor are the offices of the police department officials, a men's cell
room with thirty cells and room for ten more, detention rooms and a police garage,
the entrance to which is from the rear of the building. The second floor accom-
modates the detective bureau with offices, a Iiertillon room, dark room, detention
46 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
room for women, a cell room with ten cells for women, matron's office, bed room,
living room and kitchen.
Directly facing the main street entrance is the 10-foot main inner staircase of
white marble, which, ascending some twenty-six steps to a first landing, branches
to either side, and winds up and back to the second floor. Leading to the right
and left of the first floor central hall are two corridors all in white marble, and
both with lofty ceilings in the same design as the main hall. On either side of
these corridors are the first set of city offices. At the end of either corridor are
the side entrances of the building, reached by sets of marble steps. The corridors
are fourteen feet in width, with all of the office doors inset in arched alcoves
which are duplicated at regular intervals along the wall of the corridors. The
lighting for the main hall and corridors is furnished by ten large decorative bronze
hanging fixtures, strung through the center of the corridors and grouped in the
main hall. At the left of the staircase on entering is located the elevator.
The corridors and ceilings are decorated in grayish ivory relieved by soft buff
and violet in the coffers. All this decorating, as well as the special rooms, was done
by Arthur Willetts, of New York.
Featured in the artistic decoration of the building are the ten circular bas-relief
inset medallions. Six are set in the front and two each in the Field Street anc 1
Library side of the structure. They symbolize Truth, Prudence, Industry, the
City Seal, Commerce, Force, Law, Justice, Wisdom and Order.
The aldermanic chamber is of noble proportions, with a lofty, elaborately deco-
rated ceiling. The walls are of greenish gray plaster and rise from a white base.
All carry inset Muted white columns. For illumination there is a massive hanging
cluster of lights set in two concentric circles, the larger outer circle carrying twenty-
seven lights in the form of imitation candles, and the inner circle carrying thirteen
of the same variety.
Over the president's seal are inscribed the words : "Let not mercy and truth
forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck ; write them upon the tablet of thy heart,
so thou shalt find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man."--
Proverbs, III.
The city court room, at the west end of the corridor, is finished in much the
same style as the aldermanic chamber and is of the same generous proportions.
It has the same massive pendant light cluster. The walls are treated in a grayish
motif, relieved by decorated motifs in the frieze and panels. Over the judge's
bench is inscribed: "The foundations of justice are that none shall be harmed
and the commonweal be served." The interior decorations are beautiful. This
work was done by Arthur Willetts, of New York.
A large bell which was purchased by the City Hall Commission was intended
to be installed on the roof of the city hall. The light and graceful clock tower
on the building not being designed to carry the added weight, the architect was
asked to furnish an estimate of cost for a bell tower. This would have been
expensive and would probably have destroyed the harmony of the sky lines. It
was offered to the board of education for use on a school and to the board of
public safety for a fire bell, but was refused because there was no money available
to add a bell tower to any existing building. There was a highly eligible location
for it in the tower of the Union Station, although this was open to the seeming
objection that the station was the property, not of the city, but of the New York,
New Haven and Hartford Railroad. However, this was overlooked, the company
was induced to consent to the installation of the bell there and it was raised in the
summer of 1916. It remained in the control of the city to be rung on special
occasions.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 47
The municipal flag which floats from the staff was officially adopted on October
it, 1915. This is the approved design: "The City Seal in the center of the flag,
and the motto, 'Quid Aere Perennius.' underneath the seal. The words, 'City of
Waterbury' overhead the seal, and the figures '1853-1915' underneath the seal;
the seal and lettering to be gold on a blue ground; size of flag, 18 feet."
The following is the summary of the receipts and expenditures in connection
with the purchase of the site, and the erection and equipment of the building.
REALIZED
From insurance on old building $ 62,476.47
From bond issue :
Authorized sale of 10-year bonds issued December, 1913 100,000.00
Authorized sale of 40-year bonds issued June, 1914 400,000.00
Authorized sale of 40-year bonds issued June, 1915 400,000.00
Total $962,476.47
EXPENDED
For purchase of original site $ 92,000.00
For purchase of addition from United Electric Light & Water Company 33,000.00
For purchase of addition from Piatt Brothers & Co 19,740.00
To Geo. A. Fuller Co. for construction 604.300.73
Expenses and fees, Cass Gilbert, architect 49,240.71
Expense of competition on plans 11,050.55
Bell 1 3-137-94
Gamewell Fire Alarm 19,712.43
Furniture, equipment, supplies, etc 85,303.30
$917,485.60
THE DEDICATION EXERCISES "OLD HOME WEEK''
At the suggestion of the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce, the board of alder-
men in the summer of 1915 endorsed the idea of holding an "Old Home Week"
as a means of properly dedicating the new city hall, but neither the aldermen nor
the city hall commission could find any legal authority for voting the necessary
funds. The city found it could spend $500 which went to pay expenses of the
actual dedicatory exercises and the chamber of commerce undertook to provide for
all other expenses and to manage the celebration. A general meeting of representa-
tives of lodges and societies from all sections of the city was held at the Elks'
Club and it was found that there was a real desire for an extensive celebration.
It was so long since there had been any occasion for celebration that it was at first
proposed to make the celebration last a week and bring the entire brigade of the
Connecticut National Guard here for a military parade. This, however, proved to
be impractical, but a very lively program was arranged for Thursday, Friday and
Saturday, November 25th, 26th and 27th.
On Friday morning the school children paraded, with an escort of Boy Scouts,
from Croft School to Grand Street, where exercises were held in front of the city
hall. Children from the South Main Street playground gave folk dances. The
school children sang the "Old Home Week" song, "An Invitation," the words of
which were written by Rev. John G. Davenport, D. 1). Afterwards the children
paraded to Chase Park Bridge, where the Sled Haul Brook Tablet was dedicated.
This was erected by the Mattatuck Historical Society and unveiled on this occasion
48 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
by Edwin S. Hunt, assisted by Miss Carolyn White Griggs and Master Roger
Sherman Makepeace, the latter a direct descendant of Rev. John Southmayd and
Rev. Mark Leavenworth.
The historical interest of the occasion, which was further amplified by Rev.
Joseph Anderson, D. D., in a characteristically thorough historical address, is
sufficiently told for our purpose here by the inscription which reads as follows :
"On the opposite side of the river and probably in the small hill about forty
rods easterly, tradition says that the first settlers of Waterbury spent their first
winter in a dugout or cave. Wood was obtained from this side and hauled on a
sled across the frozen still water; hence, Sled-Haul and Sled Hall Brook, 1677-8."
"Erected by the Mattatuck Historical Society, 1915."
On Thursday evening came the dedication of the "Clock on The Green," the
acceptance of the big flag pole on The Green by the city and a fireworks display
on Grand Street opposite the city hall. The Elks arranged a special ritual for the
clock dedication and the ceremony was in charge of Dr. J. W. Fruin. The pre-
sentation address was by Charles A. Colley, speaking for the chamber of commerce,
and the unveiling was by little Miss Jackson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
A. Jackson, Mr. Jackson being the contractor for the monument. Mayor Scully
and the late Rev. F. D. Buckley also spoke.
The annual parade of the police and fire departments followed at 1 P. M. and
at 2 P. M. came the dedication exercises at the city hall. Capt. Alfred F. Wolff
presided, the opening prayer was by Reverend Doctor Anderson and the bene-
diction by Rev. Luke Fitzsimons. The new municipal flag and the national emblem
were raised on the Venetian flag poles in front of the building for the first time
under the auspices of Wadhams Post, Sons of Veterans, Berlin.
On Friday evening Governor Marcus A. Holcomb and his staff were the
guests of honor at a ball given at Buckingham Hall. Prior to this a banquet had
been given the visitors at The Elton by the chamber of commerce.
It is estimated that 125,000 people saw the civic and military parade held
Saturday afternoon, November 2"], 191 5. On the reviewing stand with the gov-
ernor were the members of his staff, Mayor Scully of Waterbury, Mayor Rice of
New Ffaven, Mayor Dutton of Bristol, and many local men of note. This was
also the day for the formal opening of the new city hall for public inspection.
In the parade were the Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard, the
First and Second Companies, Governor's Foot Guard, the Putnam Phalanx, the
Connecticut Brigade, Uniformed Rank, Knights of Pythias, many civic societies
and a score of floats. The line of march led over the new Freight Street Bridge,
which was used on this day for the first time. Col. James Geddes was grand
marshal.
The total expenses of the celebration were approximately $7,500. This amount
had been raised by public subscription and as there were revenues from sale of
programs, grand stand seats and privileges amounting to over two thousand dol-
lars, the celebration produced a surplus which was turned over to the chamber of
commerce.
SALE OF THE OLD CITY HALL PROPERTV
In January, 191 7, the city sold the site of the old city hall building, including
the ruins remaining from the disastrous fire of 1912, together with the building
occupied by the police department, the three-story fire headquarters, and the old
building, with its additions, which had housed the Bronson Library until it was re-
moved to its present Grand Street site. The amount paid was $225,000, and the
purchasers were James E. Russell, of Waterbury, and Edwin S. Dreyfus, of Boston.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 49
In March, the entire property was sold by Russell and Dreyfus to the George
L. Lilley Company. This corporation, during the summer of 1917, sold the brick
fire house to P. M. Devenis of Waterbury, who had the building moved to its
present site on Kendrick Avenue, opposite the court house.
The old city hall site has now been cleared of all debris, and the foundation of
a new building, being erected by the George L. Lilley Company, is completed.
The plans for this are by Wilfred E. Griggs, and provide for a business building
to occupy a space of 145 feet on West Main and 175 feet on Leavenworth streets,
the latter frontage along the lines of the widened street. The building is to be
two stories high for 100 feet back of West Main Street, and one story high on
the remaining lot. It is to be a plain brick structure, with eleven stores and
fifty-five offices.
THE WATERBURY COURT HOUSE
From 1867 to [896 the city of Waterbury furnished a court room in the city
hall to the superior court for New Haven County for its sessions in Water-
bury. This was at the southeast corner of the building. The building of the
police station in 1890 at the southeast corner of the city hall property shut out
light and air to a great extent from the court, which was the principal room on the
main floor of the building. Anderson's History records that there was severe
criticism of the location of the police building which gave superior court judges
an excuse for frequently adjourning the terms of the W'aterbury Superior Court
to New Haven. Doctor Anderson also records that "there are now both civil and
criminal terms of the superior court by law established and nominally held in
Waterbury, though frequently adjourned to New Haven."
This proving inconvenient, the County of New Haven erected a court house
at Leavenworth Street and Kendrick Avenue, fronting on the former street. It
was opened in December, 1896, and cost the county $91,000. On February 24,
1905, the county commissioners celebrated the burning up of sixty-one of the
4 per cent, gold coin, $1,000 bonds issued by the county to pay for the new building.
This extinguished the county debt for the time being.
The county soon got into debt again, for the need of a new and a larger court
house had become evident in 1906, and it was in that year that an effort was made
to secure an appropriation for a new building, or for the reconstruction of the old
building. Simultaneously a new court house project started in New Haven result-
ing in the monumental marble structure erected there at a cost of one million
dollars. The two buildings were authorized at the same county caucus.
In 1908, the tentative plans for the complete reconstruction of the Waterbury
building were submitted to the county commissioners, and the first appropriation
had been secured. On March 7, 1910, the courts were moved to one of the floors
in the Odd Fellows Building and were compelled to make these cramped quarters
serve until August 1, 191 1, when the new building was occupied.
The first session of the superior court was held in the new building by Judge
Lucien F. Burpee on September 12, 1911. Rev. John N. Lewis, rector of St.
John's Church, delivered the opening prayer.
When the building was completed, the cost was found to be $164,412.05. This
did not include the interior furnishings for which another heavy appropriation
was made.
The building was constructed about the old court house, the entire exterior
being new. The old court house was two stories in height. The new one has
three stories. Two wings were added, thus giving ample room for the court work.
The Leavenworth Street facade was torn down and the building enlarged, a new
entrance being made on Kendrick Avenue.
Vol. 1—4
50 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The exterior is built in the Italian Renaissance, the four massive Ionic columns
giving- it a decidedly classic appearance. The outside is terra cotta for the orna-
mental work, granite for underpinning, and red tapestry brick.
There are three high and commodious court rooms, each with judges' chambers
and comfortable jury rooms attached. The interior is furnished in ash. The
offices for the clerks of the court are especially adapted for the easy filing and
safekeeping of records. The probate court occupied a smaller court room until
1916, but was then removed to the city hall and that room is being fitted up as an
office for the county commissioners.
Some of the rooms have been used recently for meetings of the draft exemption
boards.
waterbury's federal building
Doctor Anderson's History left the United States Postoffice in the E. R. Lamp-
son Building on the present site of the Manufacturers National Bank Building,
but on October 15, 1895, the Odd Fellows Building was dedicated and quarters
were prepared in it which were to house the postoffice for a few years. The
change from Bank Street, where the mails had been handled since 1870, was made
as soon as the old lease expired on July 11, 1900.
Waterbury had agitated long and contentiously for a postoffice In 1900 it
had again outgrown its quarters and Congressman Nehemiah D. Sperry was
working to have the city placed on the list for an appropriation, which was how-
ever by no means adequate. The site was to cost no more than $40,000, and the
building with all appurtenances was to be kept within the $150,000 appropriation.
No action was taken, however, until 1902, when on the strength of sympathy for
Waterbury's loss by the big fire, Mr. Sperry had the matter rushed through.
In the summer of 1902 an inspector of the United States Treasury Department
came to Waterbury to look over the available sites. Within a week he had been
tendered eight different properties, but made it clear to the business men that his
choice lay between the property at West Main Street and Holmes Avenue, on
which the Waterbury Club is now building and the present site.
The men interested in the development of Grand Street got together and
found that the properties really wanted by the Government would mean a 158-foot
front on Grand Street, and were known as the Blake, Dykman and Peck proper-
ties, for which approximately $58,000 was asked. This was divided as follows:
$25,000 for the Blake property, $15,000 for the Dykman holdings, and $18,000
for the Peck property.
The sum of $18,000 was raised within a few hours through the efforts of
Thomas D. Barlow, George E. Boyd and George L. White. The net amount
contributed was $14,000, as the Boys' Club site was set off and netted the con-
tributors a return of $4,000. The following contributed :
The Waterbury National Bank, The A. S. Chase Co., The American Printing
Co., D. T. Hart, D. E. Fitzpatrick, Charles O'Connor, Margaret D. Atkins, George
E. Judd, W. H. Camp, The Reid & Hughes Dry Goods Co., E. B. Bowditch, H. S.
Chase, J. H. Whittemore, George L. White, Harriet W. Harrison, John W. Gaff-
ney, Elisha Leavenworth, Lewis Beardsley, D. H. Tierney, New England Engineer-
ing Co., and The Barlow Brothers Co.
On January 14, 1903, land was officially deeded to the Government by George
E. Boyd for $40,000.
Work was begun in the spring from plans of Supervising Architect Taylor
of the Treasury Department, which provided for a building much on the style
of other public structures in the country. The front is of limestone and red brick.
I'( )STOFFICK. WATERRURY
THE C01 RTHOUSE, \\ ATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 51
with ornamental half pillars on each side of the entrance. The interior finish is
of stucco and wood. On February i_\ [905, the postoffice was moved into its new
quarters without ceremony of any kind.
In 1884 there were four carriers of whom two are still in the service, John J.
Kunkel, Carrier No. 3. and Charles Hotchkiss, Carrier No. 1. John W. Hill will
on January 1. (918, celebrate his fiftieth year in the service. He has heen post-
master, general clerk, money order clerk, and is now employed in the money order
division. In 1893 the force consisted of eight clerks, ten carriers and one substitute
carrier.
In 191 7 there are forty-seven regular carriers, and three extras, making fifty
in all. There are forty-three clerks in all departments.
There are four star routes connected with the local postoffice. One of these
is a night Xew Haven service ; another gives four daily deliveries and returns from
North Woodhury ; another four daily deliveries and returns from Watertown,
and a fourth gives one daily delivery and return from Torrington.
There are four rural routes out of the Waterhury postoffice.
The Waterville postoffice is an independent station, with George H. Ford as
superintendent. There are in addition to this nine sub-stations.
The parcels post started in 1914 with one team used for part of a day. In 1917
the service consists of one auto truck and three teams.
The screen wagon service for registered mail consists of two first-class auto
trucks.
In 191 7 the demands for more room resulted in an appropriation of approxi-
mately $6,000, to cover changes upstairs and on the main floor. The upper floor
now houses the money order ana registry divisions, with new offices for the post-
master. About 800 square feet of space has heen added to the working quarters.
The growth of the postoffice has kept pace with the growth of the city. Post-
office receipts for 1893 were $56,047; for 1901, were $80,180.64; for 1910, $162,-
287.60; for 1916, $232,120.90; for nine months of 1917, $175,077.90.
The postmasters since 1893 have been: 1894, Col. John B. Doherty ; 1894 to
1898, Daniel E. Fitzpatrick; 1898 to 1906, T. H. Guernsey; 1906 to 1915, James
IT. Pilling: 1915, E. M. O'Brien.
John T. Boylan was assistant postmaster for all of these appointees from 1894,
succeeding Daniel E. Fitzpatrick in that year, until the date of his death, January
1, 1916. James T. Kelley is now assistant postmaster.
The postal savings department started here as elsewhere in 191 1 and has
been very successful. There are at present, November 1, 1917, 1,460 operating
accounts with total deposits of $388,221.
This shows almost a record percentage of growth for the United States. The
figures for the six years are as follows :
October 31, 1911 $ 1,117
October 31, 1912 9> 6l 7
October 31, 1913 l 4A7 2
October 31, 1914 i9>93 8
October 31, 1915 4 6 ,599
October 31, 1916 199-740
October 31, 1917 388,221
In May, 189T, the letter carriers working out of the Waterhury office formed
an organization, which is still active. Its officers in 191 7 are: President, William
McLean: recording secretary. A. W. Nichols; financial secretary. J. J. Scadden ;
treasurer, George A. Stevens.
CHAPTER V
PARKS AND CEMETERIES
FIRST MAP OF HAMILTON PARK — ENLARGING THE CITY'S HOLDINGS — LANDSCAPE
WORK — DRAINAGE FOR PONDS — ANNUAL TAX PROVIDES FOR PARK IMPROVEMENTS
CHASE PARK CREATED SWIMMING POOL A BIG SUCCESS ATHLETIC FIELD
EQUIPPED PLAYGROUNDS BOUGHT FOR DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF CITY THE MU-
NICIPAL FIELD DAYS — THE LATER HISTORY OF THE GREEN THE CLOCK AND THE
FLAGSTAFF THE FRANKLIN STATUE THE CITY'S CEMETERIES.
The park system of Waterbury is the growth of the past twenty years. Aside
from The Green, there were no public breathing spots or playgrounds two decades
ago. Hamilton Park had just been given to the city by Mrs. David B. Hamilton
in memory of her husband, and its improvement was a slow matter. The city
officials could not see the importance of getting the full benefit of this beautiful
spot at once. It was due largely to the constant urging and to the planning and
work of City Engineer Robert Cairns that the first real steps toward park devel-
opment were taken.
The first map of Hamilton Park was made by City Engineer Cairns in 1900.
He then announced that the completion of a contour map in 1901 would make
possible the systematic improvement of the park. The first work along this gen-
eral line in kjoi was the laying out of the old Plank Road and the "Brass Mill"
Road, which bounded Hamilton Park on two sides.
In 1902 the first notable improvement was made in Hamilton Park, the two
parcels of land forming the triangle at the juncture of East Main Street and the
I 'lank Road having been purchased to give the park a better entrance on East Main
Street. In 1902, also, the survey of South or Windermere Park was made, so that
the way was now clear for the actual work of transforming the park area into a
garden spot. In 1903, at the suggestion of City Engineer Cairns, Landscape Archi-
tect George Pentecost, of New York, prepared the first formal plan for the future
development of the park. Mr. Cairns in this year took the first step to create the
present lake ponds, which were then little better than mud holes. He began with
the help of the street department to clear both of mud, arranged to fill the bottoms
with gravel, and to construct a long and deep drain from Silver Street through the
park to the ponds, thus enabling him in 1904 to regulate the water level. The grad-
ing of two-thirds of a mile along the main drive gave the people an opportunity
for the first time to get a view of the interior of this beautiful stretch of ground.
In 1904 the expenditure of the $5,000 appropriation under the direction of the
city engineer was devoted to the rougher work, leaving the finer work for a later
period. Especial attention was given to the widening of the main drive and getting
its surface smooth and hard. The slopes along the driveway were covered with
loam and seeded. A number of foot paths were laid out and roughly graded, care
being taken to avoid too heavy cutting or running into valuable trees or shrubbery.
These considerations compelled some variations from the exact locations shown
on the plans of the park, but in general this was strictly followed. The total
52
GREEN, WITH ST. JOHNS CHURCH AND SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. WATERBURY
VIEW OF WEST MAIN STREET, LOOKING NORTH, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 53
length of driveway in the park at the end of K)04 was 3,254 lineal feet, and the
length of paths was 6,830 feet.
On the path along the top of the ridge parallel to the Plank Road a small
rustic summer house was built with rustic seats. The old mill dam on Carrington
Brook was repaired and made tight, and the small pond cleaned out and refilled
with gravel. This made a shady little wading pond. The most expensive piece of
work done in 1904 was the completion of the work of digging out the sink south of
the Plank Road and north of the Tompkins property, and the completion of the
connection with city water. There had always been a pond here, with a consider-
able depth of soft, peaty mud at the bottom, and several children had in times past
lost their lives there. It was now easy to arrange for an ornamental fountain in
the center of the pond.
The fountain in Stanley Park, done entirely by the city engineer's department,
was completed in 1904.
( ieorge C. Walker took active charge as superintendent in 1905, having been
appointed in the previous year. Some new paths were laid out and graded and
the main drive was extended across Carrington Brook and given a new outlet at
the Plank Road. A concrete steel arch bridge was built at the brook crossing
and much pains was taken in the de'sign of the structure and in the arrangement of
the various accessories to produce a pleasing effect.
The small pond used for a skating rink during the winter was drawn down in
the spring and the gravel refilling to a uniform depth of 30 inches was completed.
A fountain was placed in the center and it was decided to try the experiment of
using the pond as a swimming and wading pool. Only children under twelve years
were admitted. A shelter was built for the boys and a room in a barn nearby was
used by the girls for dressing. A man was always on duty at the pond to guard
against accidents and to prevent boisterous conduct. During July and August the
pool is used daily by several hundred children.
The playground idea was made prominent in 1905. Besides the swimming and
skating, swings were put up in the grove, and a ball field roughly laid out. By
actual count on one Sunday this summer, nearly 3,000 people entered Hamilton
Park.
A special appropriation of $15,000 was made in 191 5 for the purchase of all
of the land not already owned by the city in the block bounded by East Main
Street, Plank Road, and the Brass Mill Road. The owners held out for $17,500,
and the matter being brought to the attention of Miss Caroline A. Piatt, she
generously offered to make up the difference. Her offer w r as accepted, and the
land purchased and named Proprietors' Common, in memory of the original
settlers of Waterbury.
The city now held in one compact tract at this point about sixty-five acres of
land, and the next step was the improvement of the Plank Road.
In 1905 Mrs. A. S. Chase purchased the land adjoining the Naugatuck River
and Riverside Street, between the hospital grounds and Riverside Cemetery, a
tract beautifully situated and well-wooded, and presented it to the city to be
used for park purposes as a memorial to her husband. Taken in connection with
the hospital and cemetery grounds, it makes a continuous line of park for nearlv
a mile.
A charter amendment providing for an annual tax for park purposes of one
quarter of a mill passed the General Assembly and became a law operative for
1906. Consequently there was available for 1907 about $10,750. Additions
were made to the number of grass plots at street intersections, of which hereto-
fore there were only Stanley Park, at East Main and Elm streets, one at North
54 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Main and Hill streets, and one at West Main Street and Highland Avenue. In
1906 a small one around the elm tree at Bank and Grand streets, and another at
North Main and Cooke streets were created. These green oases in the midst of
paved streets added greatly to the attractiveness of the city.
The appropriation under the new tax brought about rapid improvements
particularly at Hamilton Park. Boats were placed on the lake for the first time.
Flower beds were laid out, trees were set out, and work was begun on the swim-
ming pool and on the athletic field.
At Chase Park the first permanent improvements were made in 1907.
In 1907 the swimming pool at Hamilton Park was thrown open to the public
and met with instant approval ; as did the playground opened in the spring of
the year. The north end was this year given the playground at Locust and Wal-
nut streets.
It was found necessary in 1907 to add several thousand yards of loam to the
soil of The Green before seeding. This made it a beautiful park for the summer.
In 1908 the "Indian Basin" to the left as one enters Hamilton Park was
changed from a marsh into a fine lake, many aquatic plants adorning its surface.
Ladies' day was instituted at the swimming pool, and benches were generously
placed about the park during this year.
During 1908 the work of grading and turfing Library Park was begun, and
1909 saw the removal of the Hotchkiss Paper Company plant, the packing houses
and residences, the result in every way justifying the improvements.
In 1909 the appropriation from the special park tax amounted to $12,750.
In Hamilton Park new paths were laid out, all buildings were painted and the
children's playground was enlarged.
In 1909 also new paths were constructed in Chase Park, seats were placed
in all available spaces, and four band concerts were given during the summer
months.
The city in 1909 established its third playground, leasing a large plot of ground
on Sylvan Avenue.
The year 1909 is known as the elm-beetle year. The park department found
it necessary to cut down forty trees, many of them the fine old trees planted
on The Green from 1842 to 1845. Constant spraying, however, put an end to the
trouble, and there was little of this nature to contend with in the following year.
In 1910 the small zoo at Hamilton Park had grown in a year and contained
two monkeys, four coons, one possum, one red-tail hawk, one large owl, one fox,
ten grey squirrels, and twenty guinea pigs, almost all donations.
During this year, the pool was used for hockey and polo and in the summer
as many as 500 children patronized it in a day. The baseball diamond and the
lawn tennis grounds were laid out this year.
Elisha Leavenworth's gift of $3,500, on condition that the city appropriate
a like sum for a bridge over Sled Haul Brook in Chase Park, hastened the work
of improving this beauty spot. A new rustic dam, a new foot bridge and many
new paths were laid. In this year the old Town Cemetery, which has not yet
been improved, was added to Chase Park.
In 191 1 the appropriation for parks had grown to $13,025. This year there
were four playgrounds, one-half acre in Washington Avenue having been added
to the list. In this year Miss Helen E. Chase gave the old Waterbury hospital
buildings and grounds as an addition to Chase Park, in memory of her mother,
Martha Starkweather Chase.
One of the largest and most expensive improvements in the city's park system
was the grading and loaming of the sand bank on Riverside Drive.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 55
1 luring 191 1 Euclid Avenue Park was graded, loamed and seeded.
In 1912 a new rustic bridge was built over Carrington Brook in the main
driveway in Hamilton Park. The zoo was also greatly enlarged, two swans being
among the gifts. The athletic field was enlarged, one new double lawn tennis
court and one basketball field were laid out.
In 1913 Hamilton Park had become the great breathing place of the city. It
was in this year that the entire population seemed to regard it as a playground.
Thousands attended a very successful skating carnival, as well as two municipal
athletic meets. Memorial Day exercises by the children proved an attractive
feature. The lawn tennis tournaments, the baseball games, basketball games, all
drew large crowds. These events have become permanent and have in the past
year been more extensive than ever.
In 19 1 3 a movement was begun to replace the elms destroyed on The Green in
1910. In all sixteen elms were planted, of which nine were donated to the city
by George Tracy. Eight additional elms were planted in 1914.
The Chase Park Recreation House was renovated throughout, furniture in-
stalled, and a supervisor placed in charge. The opportunities for recreation
include gymnastics, basketball, dancing, reading, sewing, etc.
In 1916 the Goss family presented the city with eighteen acres at the east end of
Hamilton Park, and this addition is now being improved. In 1917 the American
Brass Company gave the city five acres adjoining Hamilton Park on the south.
These gifts will in the near future, when the many improvements are completed,
round out Hamilton Park.
In November, 1917, through the agency of Lewis S. Reed, of the Manu-
facturers National Bank, approximately a dozen small tracts, involving property
on the east and west sides of Cooke Street, East Reid Street and adjoining thor-
oughfares, was purchased and the announcement was made that these lands will
probably be the gift to Waterbury of a public-spirited citizen. It is the purpose
of the donor to create a new city park.
The official valuation of the park property at the beginning of 1916 was
S( 155,000. With the recent additions it is now well over the million mark. In
this valuation The Green is placed at $510,000.
THE LATER HISTORY OF THE GREEN
The Green is a civic treasure which is so clear to our citizens that they are
never able to agree what shall be done to it or with it. Nothing in Waterbury
impresses the observant visitor as much as this beautiful central park and it is
justly the pride of our citizens to maintain its fresh sightliness. When it was
graded, fenced and planted with elm trees in 1842 the work was paid for by
public subscription, J. M. L. and W. H. Scovill providing about half of the money.
Seventy years afterwards when some of these trees died some of our citizens
hastened to provide young trees to succeed them. From 1890 to 1910, when
.the elm-leaf beetle committed its ravages hereabouts, the trees on The Green
were at their finest, and the long rows of great elms presented vistas of great
charm. It is no wonder that our people love The Green.
This affection takes two forms, part of the population desiring to add orna-
ments or encumbrances to The Green and the remainder being anxious to keep
it free of everything but grass and trees. Mayor Kilduff must be placed in the
latter class for in 1902 he summarily removed and banished to Hamilton Park
the wooden band-stand which had stood for ten years, and which had had several
predecessors. Mr. Kilduff pronounced it to be "the last relic of a jay town"
56 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
and forthwith the proper authorities saw that it went. While it stood there band
concerts were held on The Green regularly during the summer in most years and
as the population of the city grew, the attendance ran up into the thousands so
that it was impossible for everybody to keep on the walks and the grass plots
suffered. This is what led to the removal of the band-stand.
The original suggestion for the Soldiers' Monument was made in an editorial
in the Waterbury American on November 26, 1870, and was occasioned by the
overthrow by the wind of a ship's mast which did duty as a liberty pole. It stood
almost in the same location as the present steel flagstaff. The editor of the
American expressed satisfaction at the removal of "the unsightly mast that had
swayed in the wind so long" and expressed a hope that "some work of art — a
monument or a fountain — which shall be a real ornament to The Green" would
be erected in its stead. A series of articles followed, which eventually resulted
in the erection, fourteen years later, of the monument. However, when its site
was selected, the feeling that The Green should not be encumbered helped to
determine its location at the west end of The Green instead of upon it and at
the center.
The only adornment (or encumbrance) placed upon The Green in the last
twenty-five years is the handsome granite clock tower erected through the efforts
of the Chamber of Commerce and the Waterbury Republican. This was dedicated
on November 25, 191 5, in "Old Home Week."
The clock was wholly the idea of Charles A. Colley, then president of the
Chamber of Commerce, who had been talking up the project for more than a
year. To arouse public interest he wrote a playlet produced at a benefit perform-
ance at Fox's Theater, now The Strand, which netted $150, as a nucleus for the
fund. The plan met with some opposition on the ground that no further monu-
ments should be placed on The Green. To prove that his idea was popular, Mr.
Colley went around asking likely prospects to subscribe a little, usually five
dollars. When he got five $5.00 subscriptions in a day, he called it a day's work
and quit. Thus the fund grew slowly but persistently until it approached $2,000.
Then Mr. Colley electrified the community by announcing a gift of $2,500 from
Truman S. Lewis to complete the clock fund. Violent thunderstorms ensued with
efforts to prevent the erection of the clock, but Mr. Colley had already secured
authorization from the city and having a good part of the public behind him
defied opposition so that the work proceeded. On its completion its opponents
found that the result was much more satisfactory than they anticipated though
they still regret the loss of the flower bed which it had abolished.
The 135-foot steel flag pole which was presented to the city during "Old Home
Week," by George Tracy who collected the $600.00 necessary for this, met with
no such opposition as Mr. Colley had encountered, some of the opponents of the
clock subscribing to the fund to show that they did not object to a flag-staff on The
Green. An American flag of the largest size regularly made, twenty by thirty feet,
is hoisted on special occasions ; a smaller flag is for ordinary use.
On. Christmas Day, 1916, the large flag was hoisted. A very high wind was
blowing that afternoon and it was found later that the strain had sprung the
top mast of the pole. Mr. Tracy had this section taken down and shipped back
to the makers, John Simmons & Sons of New York, who generously replaced
it with a much stronger top mast which was hoisted into place in the spring of 191 7.
It is guaranteed to withstand the strongest wind.
The late Elisha Leavenworth in his will left $15,000 for a monument of Benja-
min Franklin which will be unveiled in 1918.
The last article in his will was as follows :
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 57
"] further direct that said Executors (Edwin S. Hunt and John R. Clayton),
immediately make to the City of Waterbury a formal offer to erect on the westerly
end of the Public Square or 'Green' in said City, a statue to Benjamin Franklin,
with such necessary surroundings, railings and pavement as to them, my Executors,
shall seem wise and proper, and to expend for the purpose a sum not to exceed
$15,000; I further direct that in the event that the authorized officers of the
City of Waterbury shall not give such consent within one year after the receipt
of such proposition, said Executors are directed to turn said amount into the
residuary fund, and immediately and forthwith close up this estate."
Mr. Leavenworth in his lifetime discussed this bequest with Edwin S. Hunt,
one of his executors, and suggested that a committee of citizens have the selection
of the statue in charge.
With this in mind the following committee was appointed to select the sculptor
and to arrange for the site and all details connected with the erection and unveil-
ing : J. Hobart Bronson, chairman ; C. P. Goss ; Rev. Charles A. Dinsmore, D. D. ;
J. Richard Smith; H. S. Chase; Otis Northrop; Mark L. Sperry; Miss Alice E.
Kingsbury ; and Miss Florentine H. Hayden.
This committee in 191 3 selected Paul Wayland Bartlett as the sculptor, a
choice that was not alone governed by the fame that Mr. Bartlett's many noted
works had brought him, but by the fact that he was a native of Waterbury, while
his father, Truman Howe Bartlett, was himself a distinguished sculptor and did
some 'prentice work here before he was able to study abroad. He himself had been
named after a noted citizen of Waterbury.
Paul Wayland Bartlett was born in 1865. He essayed sculpture as a boy,
exhibiting at the age of fourteen in the Salon at Paris a bust of his grand-
mother. In 1887 he won a medal at Paris with his famous "Bear Tamer," now in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In 1900 at the Paris exposition,
he represented the United States on the International Jury of Awards for Sculp-
ture. In 1908 he was made an officer of the Legion of Honor, having been named
a Chevalier in 1895. His principal works are: statue of General Joseph Warren,
Boston; equestrian statue of Lafayette, in the square of the Louvre, Paris, the
gift to France from the school children of the United States ; statues of Columbus
and Michel Angelo, in Congressional Library, Washington ; a door for the tomb
of Senator Clark in Woodlawn Cemetery; six statues on the front of the New
York Public Library ; pediment over house wing of the Capitol, Washington.
He is represented in all the leading museums and academies of design by either
original work or replicas.
Mr. Bartlett, whose studio was in Paris, as soon as terms had been agreed
upon, prepared a small model, showing Benjamin Franklin as philosopher and
diplomat, and this was exhibited in the rooms of the Mattatuck Historical Society.
The local comment was favorable, although there were many who believed
that Franklin should have been shown as a young man, but this was a matter
which the committee left entirely to the artist, feeling that the statue was to an
extent an inspiration, and it was not long until the consensus of opinion here
favored the work the sculptor had shown.
In the meantime, the war had broken out and the shipment to America of
the large clay model from which the cast was to be made was prohibited, coming
under the list of articles barred by the government from use of shipping.
Mr. Bartlett then removed his studio to Washington and began work at once
on an entirely new model, clinging, however, to the conception of the aged sage,
but greatly changing and improving the plan of the work. It is now nearly ready
for casting and he announces that it will be unveiled in 1918.
58 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The question of a site has been under consideration for over a year. By the
will of Mr. Leavenworth the "westerly end of The Green" was specifically des-
ignated. This was in view of the old Leavenworth homestead being on West
Main Street, and thus there were considerations of a tender nature that inclined
the members to carry out the bequest literally.
But there has always been a feeling in Waterbury among those who have an
eye for landscape work that The Green was not a suitable site for either clocks
or statuary, but that it was designed to be a' beautiful grass plot with walks and
flower beds, and old trees. It is quite certain that in time The Green will be
practically surrounded by mercantile establishments. Furthermore, it is impossible
to give a beautiful statue the proper setting in so small a park.
The committee has therefore decided to place the statue in Library Park,
where it will be part of what is even now considered the civic center of Waterbury.
Another proposed addition to The Green which has aroused very mixed senti-
ments is the erection of a public comfort station at the east end of The Green.
This project took shape after the destruction of the old City Hall, which as re-
modeled contained such an institution, though the fire forestalled its opening,
and it was never used. After successive administrations had been under siege
by both the opponents and advocates of the station for several years, an appropria-
tion of $25,000 for the purpose was made in 19 17 but the high construction costs
that prevailed in the succeeding year made it impossible to build it within the
appropriation much to the delight of those who were threatening injunction pro-
ceedings. The money remains in the city treasury awaiting further decision.
The Welton Fountain, erected at the east end of The Green in 1888, by the
Caroline J. Welton estate, was a kindly thought born of Miss Welton's life-long
love of horses. But this, alas, is an age of gasoline! For many years there was
a hackstand on North Main Street, south of the fountain, while humble transfer
wagons, drawn by even humbler steeds, rested at the curb to the north while
waiting for custom. Automobiles and auto-trucks have almost completely dis-
placed the horse-drawn vehicles except for certain heavy freight duty and it is
rarely now that a horse gets a drink from the Welton Fountain. Sentiment would
prevent converting it into a gasoline filling station which would be more useful
in these degenerate days. On this account, there was a movement in 19 17 to re-
move the fountain to the west end of Library Park on the plaza of the Union
Station where it would serve many hard-working beasts which are still traveling
to and from the freight yards. At the end of the year the change seemed a prob-
ability of the near future.
waterbury's cemeteries
Riverside Cemetery, which is the oldest of Waterbury's burial places, was
founded in the year of the organization of the city and while its acreage was
considerably enlarged before 1893, there have been no additions made since that
time. Now, however, more room is needed and land is to be acquired at an
early date.
By the death of S. W. Hall, March 5, 1877, the association became the recipient
of a bequest of $20,000, to be expended in the erection of a memorial chapel
"for the use of funerals and for funeral services." This fund was allowed to
accumulate until it amounted to $25,000, and the chapel was built in 1884 an d
1885 from designs prepared by R. W. Hill. The chapel was dedicated June n,
1885. Addresses were made by the Revs. Drs. Rowland and Anderson, and the
dedicatory prayer was offered by the Rev. J. L. Peck. The other services were
CLOCK OX THE (iKKEX. WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 59
conducted by other Protestant clergymen of the city and the hymns and anthems
were sung by a chorus selected from the several church choirs. In 1893 the
chapel was repaired and thoroughly renovated, and the spire entirely rebuilt at
a cost of $5,000. The expense was assumed by J. S. Elton and Airs. C. X. Way-
land, in accordance with the wishes of their mother, Mrs. Olive M. Elton.
It was agreed, when the by-laws were adopted, that "all moneys accruing
from sales of lots should be expended in the purchase and improvement of the
ground." A price was affixed to the lots "so moderate as to be within reach of
the humblest means," and it was hoped that this would ''afford a sufficient sum
to secure adequate protection and attention for the grounds." But this expecta-
tion has not been realized, and from the beginning the trustees have been dependent
on the gifts of persons specially interested in the cemetery to carry on necessary
work. For several years after it was opened, fairs were held in its behalf, and
specific subscriptions of considerable sums have been received from time to time
for special purposes. The association has received individual gifts for permanent
investments amounting to over $20,000. A special charter was obtained in 1886.
The total number of interments from the opening of the cemetery to the date
of the annual meeting, in 1895. was 4,278. To November 1, 1917 there have
been 7,799 interments in Riverside Cemetery since it was first opened. In 1895
James S. Elton was elected president and X. J. Welton secretary and treasurer.
The trustees were as follows : J. R. Smith, N. D. Granniss, Elisha Leavenworth,
E. L. Frisbie, J. S. Elton, F. J. Kingsbury, N. J. Welton.
The present trustees are James S. Elton, Otis S. Northrop, F. W. Judson,
G. C. Hill. J. Richard Smith, A. J. Smith, F. S. Chase. Its president is James
S. Elton ; secretary, Fletcher W. Judson. The latter succeeded to the position
of secretary, treasurer and superintendent on the death of Mr. Welton in 191 7.
The custodian of the grounds is Henry M. Begnal, who succeeded his father
on the death of the latter.
st. Joseph's cemeteries, old and new. and calvary cemetery
St. Joseph's cemeteries, both old and new, on Hamilton Avenue, have not
been enlarged in the past twenty-five years. The old cemetery which contains
about twenty acres was bought in 1837 by Father Hendricken and the new cemetery
was bought in 1893 by Monsignor Slocum and consists of twenty-four acres,
located at Hamilton Avenue and Pearl Lake Road.
Calvary Cemetery on East Main Street on the Cheshire Road, comprises about
sixty-seven acres. In 1885, the Rev. Wm. A. Harty purchased fifty-three acres,
and the Rev. John A. Mulcahy, the remainder in August of 1891. It was con-
secrated by the Rev. Michael Tierney on May 24th, 1894, the sermon on the
occasion being preached by the Rev. James F. O'Donnell, of Watertown.
The three cemeteries belong to the Immaculate Conception Parish, and the
superintendent is the head of the parish, Rev. Father Fitzsimons, but they are
for the use of the entire Catholic community.
PINE GROVE CEMETERY
Pine Grove Cemetery, which was established in the Mill Plain District in 1854
was greatly extended in April, 1898, by the purchase of ground extending through
to the Southmayd Road making in all twenty acres of burial ground. It was
incorporated in January. 1887. Its founders were : Milo Sacket, Leonard Warner.
James Porter, Mark Warner, Edward Scott, Jesse J. Dooliltle, Levinus Warner,
Leonard Hall, Charles Frost, Gaylord Alcott, Merrit Scott.
60 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The trustees of the association for the year 1917 are : Warren B. Hitchcock,
Edson A. Hitchcock, Mark L. Warner, Theodore Munson, George C. Walker,
Arthur E. Blewitt, Miss Fannie H. Porter.
WATERVILLE CEMETERY
The land embraced in the original Waterville Cemetery, which lies on the hill
just east of the main road, has twice been extended in the past quarter century
and now comprises several acres. It was originally laid out for sixty-four lots,
on ground deeded by Daniel E. Sprague and Anson Downes. In 19 16, the ceme-
tery, which had been enlarged by an additional acreage a decade before, made
an arrangement with the Chase Metal Works by which its main street front
was traded to that company for an adequate strip of land on the other side of
the cemetery on Fort Hill Avenue.
The present officers are : Fred Jackson, president ; Thomas Burton, secretary,
and Horace Garrigus, director and in charge of the cemetery.
FOUR JEWISH CEMETERIES
There are now four Jewish cemeteries in Waterbury. The oldest of these
belongs to what is known as the "Reform" Congregation, and is known as Melchi-
zedek Cemetery on the Cheshire Road. This was bought in 1875. In the last
decade the two O. B. O. lodges, Brass City and Gladstone, opened a joint burial
place on the Wolcott Road. Later cemeteries were opened in the same district
by the Waterbury Hebrew Benefit Association Xo. 1, and Waterbury Star Lodge,
I. O. B. A.
THE TOWN'S CEMETERY
What was known as the Town's Cemetery, comprising three acres near River-
side, which had been used for the burial of the poor for two decades, was closed
in 191 1. The fence around it was removed and the acreage was added to Chase
Park. It remains as it was in that year. Burials of the poor are now made in
the various cemeteries of the city.
CHAPTER VI
SCHOOLS, LIBRARY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
GROWTH IN SCHOOL POPULATION — TWO IMPORTANT CHANGES IN SCHOOL GOVERN-
MENT — ITS NEW MODEL HIGH AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL STRUCTURES — OUTSIDE
SCHOOL DISTRICTS INCLUDED EVENING SCHOOLS — MEDICAL INSPECTION — MAN-
UAL TRAINING — PLAYGROUNDS — SALESMANSHIP SCHOOL CONTINUATION
SCHOOL — VOCATIONAL SCHOOL— VALUE AND EXTENT OF SCHOOL PROPERTY — PRI-
VATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS DAVID G. PORTER BEQUEST LIBRARY AND MA'l-
TATUCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
On September i, I QI7, the beginning of the present school year, there were
enrolled in the public and private schools of Waterbury 22^053 pupils. Of these
16,833 attended the public schools and 6,120 the parochial and other private
schools. The school census enumeration of children between the ages of four
and sixteen was 26,419. This was a gain of 2,418 over the enumeration of the
previous year, while the enrollment shows a gain of 1,890.
The total number of children in the district in 1893, the beginning of the
quarter century, was 8,475.
The superintendent of schools, in his report for 1893, m ade the following
general statement in regard to the schoolhouses of the Center District: "AH
the buildings now in use, fourteen in number, have been erected within the last
twenty-two years. They contain eighty-four school rooms, and some have recita-
tion rooms in addition. They are substantially built, are in good repair, and afford
ready egress in case of fire. Two of them, the Bank Street and the Clay Street
buildings, are excellent in design and will compare favorably with any other school
buildings in the state in the same grade."
The annual report for the year ending Octqbej^i ^i894, s howe d that there were
fifteen school buildings in use in the district. \The number ^LsHTool-rooms^TnTlSe--
was ninety-three, and the number of teachers, including assistants, was 120.
The total number of boys registered during 1893 was 3,145, and of girls, 2,902,
making a total of 6,047, — an increase of 375 over the previous year. This was
exclusive of pupils in the evening schools. The total number registered in the
evening schools, was 814. The average attendance at the evening schools declined
from 495 in November, 1893, to 2 54 m February. 1894, and 114 in March. The
number of pupils in attendance at the day schools during the spring term of 1895
was 5,289. The following table will serve to show not only how they were dis-
posed of, but the number and the location, approximately, of the schools of the
district in 1895. (Under "high school"' are included temporary accommodations
in the Moriarty block.) k
High School T ,I34 Last Main Street 197
Elm Street 490 Ridge Street 356
Clay Street 389 Hillside Avenue 118
Bank Street 651 Sperry Street 324
Bishop Street 432 Locust Street 383
Porter Street 315 Dublin Street 117
Washington 262 Westside 11 ill 141
61
62 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
During the winter term, 1893-94, the number of pupils in the high school
proper was 191. Of this number, thirty-eight graduated and a few left the school
to enter employment. The number of grammar school scholars who passed
examination for admission was no, making the number at the summer term 252.
These were packed into quarters originally designed for only 114. In several
other rooms the condition reported was almost as bad, but in some of them at
least temporary relief was obtained by additions to the buildings or the securing
of rooms elsewhere to take care of the overflow. At the district meeting held
May 9, 1895, it was voted to erect a new high school building at a cost of $100,000,
and to enlarge the Bishop Street and Bank Street schools at an expense of $30,000
additional. The expenses of the district during the year 1894 were nearly
$150,000, of which the largest items were, for Salaries $80,000 and new buildings,
repairs, etc., about $16,000.
Until 1899 the charter as amended in 1880 and 1895 governed in school
matters, and the following excerpts from two sections of that document describe
succinctly the methods by which the controlling power was elected and by which
taxation for school purposes was levied.
"Said Center School District shall annually, on the first Monday of October,
choose by ballot a district committee consisting of five persons, a board of educa-
tion consisting of seven persons, a treasurer, two auditors and a clerk ; no person
shall hold more than one of said offices, and all of said officers shall be residents
and legal voters of said Center School District.
"Said district committee shall have the general care and management of the
concerns of said district; enumerate and make return of the scholars at the time
and in the manner provided by law for other school districts ; employ teachers
approved by the board of education ; make a list of the polls and ratable estate of
all the inhabitants in said district whenever it becomes necessary, for the purpose
of taxation ; shall exercise control over the expenditures of all moneys belonging
to said district ; make all contracts for furnishing of supplies, building and
repairing of schoolhouses, and, with the concurrence of the board of education,
abate such taxes as, in their judgment, ought to be abated."
On June 20, 1899, the first notable change in the government of the schools
was effected by act of the Legislature. By it, the boundaries of the city were
fixed as those of the Center School District. The name Center School District
was abolished. The law then ordains that "said new department of education
shall be under the control of the board of education, consisting of the mayor,
who shall be ex officio chairman, and seven members, who shall be elected bienni-
ally at the meetings of said city for the election of officers ; and for this purpose
separate ballots shall be provided in the several voting places in said city. The
terms of office of said members shall begin on the first Monday of January
next following their election, and the provisions of the charter of said city in
relation to the powers and duties of city officers shall apply to said members."
It further provided that the board of education "shall have the entire charge
and direction of all the public schools of said district, and of the expenditure of
all moneys appropriated for the support of the same."
On the matter of taxation, it provided that "the treasurer of the city shall
receive the amount of school money to which the district is entitled from the
school moneys of the state, from the Town of Waterbury, from state appropria-
tions for school purposes, from gifts, and from the tax laid within the district
for school purposes, which moneys shall be subject to the order of the board of
education under such rules and regulations as the board of finance may from
time to time establish. The board of education shall submit to the board of
THE DRIGGS SCHOOL, WATERBURY
THK WEBSTER SCHOOL. WATKRBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 63
finance of the city, at the time fixed by law for the submission of the estimates
of other departments of said city, a detailed estimate of its expenses for the
next year for which the appropriations for city purposes are by law required
to be made, specifying separately the sums needed for current and for special
expenses, but no tax shall be laid upon any property lying outside of the present
limits of the City of Waterbury and within the limits of said city as hereby
established at a rate exceeding one-half of the rate of taxation upon property
lying within the present limits of said city."
This was at least a partial consolidation of school and city governments, but
the amended charter of 1901 made complete consolidation depend upon the wishes
of voters in the districts. For the purpose of giving a clear idea of what seems
a complicated method of taxation, the two clauses of the amended charter are
quoted quite fully :
"Said City of Waterbury, on and after said date, shall be divided into two
districts. The first district shall comprise all the territory of said city, and the
second district shall comprise all the territory that lay within the limits of said
city as the same existed on the first day of January, 1901, excepting that all that
territory lying east of the City Mills Pond, so called, and Great Brook, and which,
with other territory of the Bucks Hill School District, was annexed to the Center
School District of Waterbury, by the General Assembly at its January session,
1899, is hereby restored to the said Bucks Hill School District and is made a por-
tion of said first district.
"All the inhabitants and property within the limits of the first district shall
be liable to taxation to defray the burdens and expenses imposed upon said city
by this act, to the same extent as they would have been liable if said burdens, ex-
penses, duties and powers had not been transferred from said town to said city ; and
in addition thereto for the expenses for the support of schools within that part of
said first district lying outside the limits of said second district, to the same extent
that the said town may now be liable, and for the expenditures by the Board of
Health of said city (exclusive of the expenditures for the collection and removal
of garbage), and police protection outside of said second district, and the expense
of, less receipts from, criminal prosecutions, which expense shall be ascertained
and determined by the comptroller; and all other burdens and expenses of said
city, including the support and maintenance of schools within the limits of said
second district, shall be met by taxation levied upon the inhabitants and property
within the limits of the second district; and it shall be the duty of the assessors
and Board of Relief of said city to indicate in the compilation of the grand list
what is taxable by said city in each of the said districts ; and the public money
derived from the taxation of the inhabitants and property of the second district
exclusively shall not be expended for any purpose for which the money of said
city could not lawfully be expended at the time of the passage of this act; pro-
vided, however, that the property lying outside of the limits of the City of Water-
bury, as established by the General Assembly of 1895, an ^ within the limits of
the second district as established by this act, shall be taxed to meet its propor-
tionate share for the support and maintenance of schools within said second dis-
trict, but for all other burdens and expenses of the said second district it shall be
taxed at a rate not exceeding one-half of that necessary to be levied upon the
remaining property within said district in meeting snch burdens and expenses."
It also provided that "the several school districts of the Town of Waterbury,
outside of said second district, shall continue to remain as school districts with
the same territorial limits, rights, powers, and obligations as now existing with
the exception as set forth in section seven of this act (before quoted) and the
64 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
obligations now imposed upon the Town of Waterbury, with respect to the sup-
port of schools outside of said second district, are hereby imposed upon said City
of Waterbury and shall be an expense incurred by and chargeable to the first
district hereinbefore described."
It also provided that "Whenever twenty-five electors, residing in any one of
said school districts, shall petition the Board of Aldermen of said city that the
school district within which they reside may be brought under the full jurisdiction
of the second district heretofore described, said Board of Aldermen, after due
hearing, shall fix a day on which all legal voters residing within the limits of said
school district may vote upon the question whether they are in favor of or
opposed to said petition."
It was fourteen years before the first outside school district availed itself of
its privileges under this law. In January, 191 5, Town Plot was the first district
to vote itself under the jurisdiction of the Waterbury Board of Education. The
Sprague (Waterville) district and the Mill Plain district voted themselves in in
January, 1916. The Bunker Hill district came in on November 1, 191 7.
Those still operating as distinct school districts are Reidville and East Farms,
which had formerly been one district, East Mountain, Bucks Hill, Hopeville, Park
Road, and Oronoke, the latter two also a division of one former district.
The last school board under the old law was as follows :
Board of Education : A. A. Crane, chairman ; George H. Cowell, John D.
Freney, Thomas J. Kilmartin, Charles S. Rodman. George W. Russell, Eugene
A. Pendleton.
District Committee: A. I. Goodrich, chairman; Michael J. Byrne, Timothy J.
Carmody, Otis S. Northrop, Edward T. Root.
Treasurer, John Meyer ; treasurer sinking fund, John W. Burns ; auditors,
John J. Dawson, Daniel M. Davis; clerk, T. J. Moran ; superintendent of
schools, Berlin W. Tinker.
The first Board of Education under the amended charter was as follows:
Hon. E. G. Kilduff, mayor, chairman ; Charles S. Chapman, George H. Cowell,
Edward W. Goodenough, John F. Hayes, Thomas J. Kilmartin, John J. McDon-
ald, George W. Russell. The superintendent was B. W. Tinker.
From this period on the school growth was rapid. In 1899 the new Barnard
and Webster schools, with ten and twelve rooms respectively, were opened. The
remodeled Merriman and Hendricken schools were also in use practically as new
buildings, and the Driggs school was nearly ready for occupancy.
The system of furnishing text books free had been introduced into the schools
in September, 1895, and has accomplished all that its supporters claimed for it.
A system of physical training was inaugurated in the public schools of Water-
bury in September, 1896, and was further extended.
In 1896 the new high school on East Main Street was opened. The site cost
the city $25,000 and the building complete cost approximately seventy-five thou-
sand dollars. It was planned by Joseph A. Jackson. It was three stories in
height, with offices and four class rooms on the first floor.
Across the entire front on the building on the second floor were the physical
laboratory, the lecture room, and the chemical laboratory. All these could be
thrown into one large room by means of immense rolling partitions,' making a
room ninety-three feet long. The lecture room had raised platforms. Adjoining
the chemical laboratory was a dark room with sink for photographic work. On
this floor were, also a teachers' room, with lockers, and three large recitation
rooms, also four class rooms, all well lighted, and each with separate wardrobes
for boys and girls.
CLARK SCHOOL. WATERBURY
BUNKER HILL SCHOOL WATKIMUK Y
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 65
The third tloor contained a fine large assembly hall, 64 feet by 72 feet, with
ceiling 20 feet in height. This room was entirely clear of any posts or obstructions.
In the basement was located the gymnasium.
The exterior was designed somewhat in the colonial type of architecture, and
was built of buff pressed brick with Indiana limestone and terra cotta trimmings.
All the rooms had fresh air supply ducts, and likewise ducts for the removal
of the vitiated air. These all connected with a central main duct in the basement
,and run to the foul air gathering room at the rear, which discharged outside of
the building by the exhaust fan. The building was completely remodeled later.
In June, kjoo, the board re-established the training school for teachers, with
Adelaide V. Finch as principal.
At this period, 1900, it was evident that the city had already outgrown its
high school capacity. The record of increase in attendance shows that the school
had more than doubled its attendance.
No. of Pupils
1896-1897 237
1897-1898 321.5
1898-1899 351.2
1899-1900 436.9
September, 1900 494
For the year 1901 the physical plant of the Waterbury schools consisted of
eighteen buildings with a seating capacity of 7,532. During this year the Walsh
and Russell schools were opened, the Walsh School from designs by Joseph A.
Jackson and the Russell School from plans by Thomas M. Freney.
The Walsh School building was described in the report of this year as "located
between Ashley and Dikeman streets, and fronts south looking towards Ashley
Street. The building is three stories in height, with basement, having a frontage
of 126 feet and a depth of 67 feet. The principal entrance to the main floor is in
the center of the front through a high arched entrance porch. Other entrances to
the basement and main floor are provided at each end. The first floor contains
six class rooms and principal's room and teachers' room, with toilets, etc. The
main corridor on each floor is twelve feet wide and runs the whole length of
the building. The second floor contains six class rooms, teachers' room, recita-
tion room and storage room. The th ; rd floor contains six class rooms and one
large recitation room, which can also be used as a class room if needed. There is
also a teachers' room with toilets and store room. In the basement are two large
play rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls, also the boys' and girls' rooms,
containing the sanitaries. The remaining space in the basement is used for the
heating and ventilating apparatus, coal and fuel."
"The Russell School," the report continues, "is two stones in height, with
basement and attic, having a frontage on West Main Street of eighty-nine feet,
and extending back on Wilson Street a distance of eighty-four feet. The main
entrance is on West Main Street, opening from a porch with tiled floor, connect-
ing with corridor. There is also an entrance to first floor on the west side of the
building from the school yard. There are marble stairs at each end of the build-
ing, leading from the first floor to the basement and from the first to the second
floor. There are two entrances to the basement." In the building there were at
the outset six school rooms. This capacity has been greatly increased.
In 1903 the Mulcahy school, og-Bakhvirr-Street, was opened. The building
was three stories in height, not including basement; it had a frontage of 72
feet and a depth of 91 feet. The building had four entrances, one on the
Vol. 1—5
66 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
front, one in rear, and one on each side. The basement contained play rooms for
both boys and girls, sanitaries, engine room, fuel room and janitor's room. The
first floor contained four class rooms, principal's office with toilet and supply
room. The second floor contained six class rooms, one recitation room and
teachers' room with toilet. The third floor contained six class rooms, recitation
room and teachers' room with toilet.
This year, 1903, the old Elm Street building was condemned and abandoned,
and plans made for the new Margaret Croft School.
The Sprague School at Waterville was remodeled and a large wing added.
In the report of the superintendent for 1904, the crowded condition of the
schools is again emphasized. He says :
"Five new rooms have been opened and filled, and as soon as we have the
funds, at least one more room must be opened. In September, 1905, there will
be but three unoccupied rooms in the entire city and it is quite possible that these
may be occupied. The attendance for September, 1904, has been a record
breaker, the increase, 533, being larger than that in any city in the state, and
probably larger than in any city of similar size in New England.
"There has been no increase like this within recent years, and as far as I can
see, there is not likely to be any immediate relief. The first grades throughout
the city are greatly overcrowded, the room that has less than sixty in attend-
ance being the exception, and many have over sixty-five pupils. These figures
mean that if we would properly house these children, we must still continue to
open about eight new rooms each year. It is surprising how evenly this increase
is spread over the entire city. Of the thirty-one schools, twenty-four show an
increase and seven remain practically stationary. Provision for additional rooms
to be opened in September, 1905, should be made at the Webster School. Three
rooms could have been occupied in this district this fall if we had had them. I
would recommend that an eight-room addition to this school be built during the
coming year and a portion be ready for occupancy in September, 1905."
In the enumeration for 1904, the following schools showed large gains:
Bishop and Driggs, 186; Lincoln, 56; Merriman, 102; Croft, 218; Bunker Hill,
25 ; Park Road, 25 ; Hopeville, 40 ; Town Plot, 38.
The growth of the city was again apparent in the records of 1905. The regis-
tration was 9,413, an increase of 697. The new Mill Plain School was occupied
and was a model district school. Bunker Hill purchased the site for a new
eight-room building. Bucks Hill started on its new structure ; Park Road opened
its new four- room building. During 1904 and 1905 the districts voted over
ninety-four thousand dollars for sites and school buildings.
In Waterville, the Sprague School, later destroyed by fire, assumed some-
thing of its present shape. The original building, which was erected over fifty
years ago, served the needs of the district until 1892, at which time a two-room
addition was built to supply the want of a growing district. In 1897 it was neces-
sary to add two more rooms to meet the increase, and six years later, in 1903, a
four-room wing was added to the group. In 1905 it was deemed wise to give up
the use of the first building for classroom needs and part of it was arranged for
other uses, such as principal's office and supply rooms. A new brick addi-
tion, erected in 1905, contained on the first floor a kindergarten, and on the sec-
ond floor a classroom and a principal's office. Each floor had roomy corridors.
With the addition completed and occupied, the district in 1905 had nine class-
rooms and one kindergarten for the accommodation of the school population.
In 1910 the Sprague School accommodations were again increased by the
addition of a building containing three classrooms, a recitation room and a
library.
T<y\YX PLOT SCHOOL— A DISTRICT TYPE OF BUILDING— WATERBURY
THE WALSH SCHOOL, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 67
The new Margaret Croft School, which took the place of the abandoned Elm
Street School, was opened in 190 5. This is three stories high and the stairways
and landings were built of reinforced concrete.
On the first floor are five classrooms, each 25 by 28 feet; a kindergarten,
25 by 40, and a principal's room 1 1 by 25 feet, complete with toilet and lavatory.
The second floor contains six classrooms, a teacher's room with toilet, and a
library. The third floor is a duplicate of the second, with a supply room and
hospital.
The building is covered with a flat roof, sloping to the center, from which the
rain water is drained by means of pipes extending down in the interior of the
building, thus doing away with dripping cornices and frozen conductor pipes.
The entrances for the scholars are on opposite sides of the building, that for the
girls being on the south, near the front, and that for the boys on the north, near
the rear. From these entrances the scholars pass directly either into the base-
ment or up to the first floor.
All classrooms and corridors on the first, second and third floors have a
wainscot of glazed brick six feet high, the junction between it and the plaster
above being covered by a wood moulding in the corridors, and by a picture shelf
and moulding in the classrooms. The exterior is faced with red pallet brick.
In 1906 an addition containing seven classrooms, a kindergarten, and an
assembly hall were added to the Webster School.
In 1907 the superintendent records the increase in school population as fol-
lows :
"The complete and corrected returns from the census enumerators show that
the number of children of school age in this city is 17,781, which is a gain of
931 over the census of 1906. This gain is far in excess of that of previous years
and means that in the near future, if we are to properly accommodate our grow- 1
ing school population, it will be necessary to build, every school year, one
18 to 20-room school building. The central district, Croft, Welton and Clay
Street schools, shows an increase of 580 ; the northwestern district, Driggs,
I'.idiop Street and Lincoln schools, an increase of 333; the Washington Hill dis-
trict, Washington, Mulcahy and Merriman schools, an increase of 102 ; West Side
Hill, Russell School, an increase of 66 ; the Brooklyn district, Duggan, Porter
Street and Barnard schools, and the northern district, Webster and Walsh, show
smaller increases ; and the eastern section, Hendricken and Hamilton, remains
practically stationary. The enormous increase of 580 in the heart of the city
certainly means that within a few years it will be necessary to carry out the
original plans of the Croft School by removing the old building and erecting an
addition of 20 to 24 rooms to the present new structure. One only needs to walk
a comparatively short distance on the streets near the center to note the number
of large tenement blocks that are being erected on every side, and this is likely
to continue for several years, producing in the center of the city a school popula-
tion very much greater than at present. The city is very fortunate in having
sufficient land in the rear of the new Margaret Croft School on which to erect an
addition which will accommodate this increased number of children. Among the
district schools. Bunker Hill, Sprague and Town Plot show the largest increases."
During this year a ten-room addition to the Driggs School was opened, as well
as six- and eight-room additions at the Duggan and Webster schools, respectively.
In 1909 the conditions at the Crosby High School were such that half sessions
became necessary. In 1908 the assembly room had been given over to classes, but
this failed to help out as the attendance for 1909 reached 760, a further gain of
forty over the previous year.
68 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
It was still necessary to shift about and provide for overflows in various sec-
tions. The total attendance for this year, 11,119, showed a gain of over five
hundred.
For 1910, the attendance was 11,503, a further gain over the previous year,
the High School gaining fifty-two. In this year the High School classes were
divided, 305 pupils attending the afternoon sessions and 507 the morning sessions.
However, the board had acted and plans for a new school were drawn. Unfor-
tunately the financial conditions were such as to prevent an immediate sale of
the bonds.
In this year the evening schools led the entire state in attendance, the registra-
tion reaching nearly a thousand.
This year saw the opening of its first community playground. The first report
of Joseph A. Colloty, supervisor of physical training in the public schools, con-
tains the following:
"If public opinion that has been gathered from all sources may be used as a
judge, the eight weeks' session of playgrounds, just completed at Hamilton Park,
has been one of the most successful movements undertaken. It was instituted by
the Board of Education and plans carried out by the Board of Public Works.
"A boys' baseball league was organized for boys under fifteen years of age.
Forty league games were played, with an average of two hundred and fifty root-
ers each day, and they were rooters, giving that number of boys something to do
beside playing in the streets or up to some mischief or other.
"Swearing, smoking and fighting were absolutely prohibited ; the rules were
kept in good shape ; not a fight occurred during the series, and the absence of
swearing was commented on by every adult who witnessed the games.
"The tennis courts proved a big success, being engaged from as early as 9
A. M. until dark. We had two double courts and six would not have been too
many. Over seventy-five boys, one hundred adults and twenty-two young ladies
and girls were instructed in the game and had the use of the courts. The spec-
tators numbered as high as one hundred a day ; an average was not kept."
In 1908 the school census showed the beginning of a notable shifting of popu-
lation. In the number of children at school, there was an increase of 275 and in
enumeration a decrease of 536. Washington Hill, comprising the Washington,
Mulcahy and Merriman schools, showed a decrease of 113. In the Brooklyn dis-
trict, the Duggan and Barnard schools showed a decrease of 342, while the Porter
showed an increase of 192, making the net decrease in Brooklyn 150. In the
northern section of the city the Webster and Walsh schools gave an increase of
in and in the northwestern section the Driggs and Bishop Street schools an
increase of 417.
The total number of children in attendance this year was 10,093.
In 1910 large additions to both the Russell and Merriman schools were begun.
The Merriman school work covered by the contract consisted of a new wing con-
taining five class rooms, a kindergarten, wood-working room, and cooking room;
this new wing being a duplicate of the front part of the present building. The
new and old buildings are connected by a wide corridor ; the space between build-
ings forming a court in which is placed the new main entrance.
The addition to the Russell School contains on the first floor two class rooms,
a kindergarten room and a large teacher's room or office. The basement has a
cooking school room and a manual training room, all well lighted, heated and ven-
tilated.
In his report for 191 1, the superintendent thus briefly describes conditions:
WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 69
'The corrected school census returns show that the number of school children
in the city is 20,347, a gain of 1,341, which is considerably larger than any during
the past fifteen years. The number of children actually in attendance in the public
schools is 13,683, a gain of 1,010; in the private and parochial schools, 4.500. The
returns show that the Brooklyn district remains about stationary; the district
which includes the center of the city gives a gain of 628; the north end section, a
gain of 408 : Washington Hill, a gain of 57. Of the district schools, East Farms
and East Mountain show the largest relative gain, 40 in all; Hopeville, Mill Plain,
Park Road and Waterville, about the same, 15 each; and Town Plot, 43. In this
connection it is interesting to recall that the city will receive from the state this
year, and from the Leavenworth fund for the expenses of our schools, an amount
in excess of $55,000, a rather tidy sum. The total number of children attending
the public schools is 12,129, a gain of 635 as compared with the attendance last
year. The gain this year is abnormal to the extent of at least two hundred pupils."
The total registration at evening schools for 191 1 was 1,284.
In commenting on the new playground movement, the superintendent says:
T think it is generally conceded that playgrounds have come to stay in Water-
bury. During the past year the Board of Education co-operated with the Board of
Public Works, as in 1910, and paid part of the expenses of the playground at
Hamilton Park. In this connection it is pleasant to note that the Board of Public
Works opened several other playgrounds in different sections of the city where
they seemed to be specially needed, and also, that the Associated Charities had a
large playground in the center of the city, on South Main Street. Every move
made in this direction is praiseworthy and should receive the hearty co-operation
of the public."
In 191 1 the crowded condition at the Crosby High School was to some extent
relieved by an addition to the rear of the building. This was three stories high,
30 feet by 96 feet, and gave six additional school rooms, a girls' toilet room and
storage and stock rooms in the basement, a superintendent's office and a principal's
office, with waiting room, and secretary's room and toilet room for each, a physical
lecture room and a physical laboratory, a chemical laboratory, and two botanical
laboratories having been provided in the old part.
In 191 1 the expenditures for new buildings and furniture amounted to $138,845.
Of this sum $81,000 was expended on the Crosby High School, $28,700 on the
Merriman School, and $18,945 on Driggs School.
In 1912 the enumeration was 20,933, a gain of 586; the number of children in
the public schools was 14,117, in the parochial schools, 3,886. In the High School
the attendance was 935, a further gain of 82 or 255 more pupils than could be
accommodated at single sessions. The evening school attendance for 1912 was
1.426.
Superintendent Tinker thus summarizes the school accommodation problem in
his report for 19 12:
"The growth in the number of school children has been much greater between
the years 1908 and 1912 than between 1902 and 1908; yet the total amount appro-
priated for new grammar schools during the period of rapid growth was only
$171,900, an average of $28,700 per year, while in the period of slower growth
the amount of money appropriated for the same purpose was $261,814, or an
average of $43,635 per year. This shows most conclusively that in new construc-
tion we have been falling behind during the past six years from $15,000 to $25,000
each year, and there is little likelihood of our catching up unless future appropria-
tions for new construction are largely increased. To state it in another way, dur-
ing the last eight years the increase in school attendance has been 2,650 ; the nuni-
70 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
ber of rooms opened 35, which, with an average accommodation of 45, would seat
1,575 pupils, leaving over one thousand pupils for whom no new accommodations
have been provided."
In 1912 the first report was made on the ages of grammar school graduates, and
the number of years required by them to complete the grammar school course.
For nine years a card system had been kept. These cards, which are still kept,
contain a complete school record of each pupil, giving his name, date of birth,
birthplace, parents' name, address, and for each year, the school attended, his
grade and rank ; in addition, the card also contains a great many facts about the
general health of the student, his eyesight, hearing, contagious diseases, etc.
In his report for 1912, the superintendent says:
"There were 400 graduates, of whom 2 completed the course in six years ; 7,
or 1^4 per cent, in seven years; 66, or i6 l / 2 per cent, in eight years; 234, or 58^2
per cent, came through on schedule time, nine years ; 74, or 18^ per cent, in ten
years; 15, or tfA per cent, in eleven years, and 2 pupils in twelve years. Eight,
or 2 per cent, were twelve years of age; 43, or 1034 per cent, were thirteen years ;
109, or 27% per cent, were fourteen years; 139, or 3434 per cent, were fifteen
years; 76, or 19 per cent, were sixteen years, and 25, or 6)4 per cent, were seven-
teen years of age."
In 1912 the four-room Hill Street School was built, at a cost of $23,000.
In 1913 the school enumeration was 23,171, a gain of 2,238. Of this number,
15,527 were in the public schools and 4,362 in private schools. The Washington
Hill gain was 665, the Center gain 497, the North End gain 345, Brooklyn 274,
the western section 103, and a small gain in all the districts. The number of
pupils attending half sessions in 1913 was 1,327. The evening school attendance
was 1,385.
The city was now thoroughly awake to the need of new schools. The Slocum
School, twelve rooms, was promised to the North End for 1914. This did away
with half sessions in both the Webster and Walsh schools. An eight-room addi-
tion to the Clay School and a similar addition to the Washington School were well
under way.
The Slocum School plans called for a twenty-four-room building, of which
twelve were to be completed in the future. The architects of this fine semi-fire-
proof structure were Freney & Jackson. It is considered one of the best of the
city's schools.
On December 25, 1912, the Sprague School was visited by a destructive fire
which left practically nothing standing but the brick walls. Plans were at once
prepared to rebuild on the same lines as the old except that the committee decided
to place the heating plant in a separate building at the rear of the school. Con-
tracts were let in February and the work was pushed with such speed that the
building was completed and available for school use in 191 3. No changes were
made in the exterior design of the school. The old assembly hall was divided
up which gave two more class rooms, so that the building contains one kinder-
garten, fifteen class rooms, two offices, two toilet rooms, recitation and supply
rooms and a library. Each floor also has roomy corridors in which are placed
the wardrobes for the use of the pupils. The wardrobes are of iron. The entire
basement was given up to boys' and girls' play rooms. Several fire protective
features were installed, chief of which were the fire walls. These extend from
basement to roof and serve to confine a possible fire within the wing in which it
may start. These walls are of heavy brick, and the openings in the walls in the
different stories are protected by fire doors which are automatically closed by
the melting of a fuse at a certain temperature.
WATER MLKY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 71
Extra promotions had been begun in 1912, and in [913 it was decided to give
461 pupils an opportunity to do two years' work in one. Only those who stood
highest and were physically strong were selected. This was a new device to over-
come the school congestion, and resulted in shortening the grammar course by
one year for these advanced pupils. In 19 14 the double promotions numbered
401.
The school en umera tion for m> 1 4 again reflected local economic conditions.
The figure was 21,681, a loss of 1,490. The public school attendance for the year
was [4,880; private school attendance, 4.255. The losses were as follows: Merri-
man, 5; Mulcahy, 90; Croft, 281 ; Webster, 129; Bishop, 624; Porter, 116; Driggs
and Lincoln, 304; Hamilton, 159; Hendricken, 230; Waterville, 54. All others
showed small gains. The attendance at the evening schools was 1,529.
Of the conditions at the Crosby High School, the superintendent says :
"The situation in the high school is such that it is very doubtful if it will be
possible to house the pupils next year, even in two sessions and a third session
is absolutely out of the question. Twelve hundred and twenty pupils are now in
attendance, which is nearly twice the full capacity of the school. Fortunately up
to the present year the two divisions have been somewhat equally divided and
the selection of courses of study by the pupils has been such that it was possible
to accommodate everyone, but during the present year there has been a sort of a
realignment on the part of the pupils with the result that a large number of pupils
can not take the studies that are called for in their courses for the reason that it
is absolutely impossible to organize additional classes. The laboratory facilities
are proving to be inadequate and the commercial practice rooms entirely too
small."
In 1914 the Slocum School was opened and filled to capacity. Additions to
the Maloney and Washington schools were begun. The Mulcahy, which was par-
tially destroyed by fire in 1914, and the old Croft School building, which was
also heavily damaged by flames, were both thoroughly repaired, and ready for
occupancy in 1915. After these fires sprinkler systems were placed in all new
schools and in the old ones as rapidly as funds would permit.
In January, 1914, the Board of Education decided to make the superintendent
of schools the executive head of the entire school department and to hold him
wholly responsible for all of its activities. The superintendent up to that time had
charge of the purely educational work ; the physical plant being in charge of the
Committee on Schoolhouses and the inspector of school buildings. Under the new
arrangement, the superintendent was also made responsible for the condition of
the physical plant.
In 1 914 plans were adopted for the new Clark School on Scovill Street, adjoin-
ing the Croft School. It is a fourteen-room building, complete with wood-
working and cooking departments, gymnasium, swimming pool, boys' and girls'
lockers, shower and dressing room. This building is a model in every respect
as to its construction and finish, and the entire range of modern schoolhouse work
in this country was searched to produce a building which would be of most thor-
ough and at the same time most economical fireproof construction. The walls
of the building are of brick, the exterior facing being of selected brick trimmed
with a small amount of Indiana limestone in keeping with the Croft School.
The Sprague School gymnasium, which was begun in October, 1914, was
ready for occupancy February, 191 5. The auditorium in this seats 500.
In 191 5 the enumeration was 22,390, a gain of 709 over 1914. The largest
gains were as. follows : Washington District, 180; Duggan, 109; Mulcahy, 103;
Hendricken, 101 ; Barnard and Maloney, 81 each; Croft, 50; Porter, 48; Lincoln,
72 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
43 ; Walsh, 38 ; Driggs, 30 ; Merriman showed a loss of 76 ; Russell, of 69 ; and
Webster, of 198. Town Plot showed a gain of 162; Bucks Hill, 27; Hopeville,
20; East Mountain, 15; Mill Plain, 13; East Farms, 7. The losses in Waterville
were 34, and in Bunker Hill, 17. The reports of the attendance for September,
1915, show a total number of 13,959 pupils, a gain of 611. There was a loss in
attendance of 98 at the Driggs and Lincoln schools, due to the opening of the
new St. Margaret's Parochial School. The attendance at the evening schools
was 1,679, tne largest in the history of the city up to that time.
In 191 5 a decided advance was made in the planning and construction of new
schools. Of these the most important enterprises were the planning of the
new Wilby High School and the opening of the Clark School on which in
1915 $100,667.94 was expended. The total expenditures in 1915 for buildings,
additions and furniture was $128,214.93, in 1914 it was $129,133, of which
$42,930 was spent in the new high school addition and $58,974 on the Maloney
School.
The work on additions and alterations of the Hendricken School was com-
menced in October, 1915, and finished in March, 1916. In the basement the
following new rooms were added : Cooking room, boiler room, woodworking
room, girls' and boys' sanitaries, store room and new exit. On the first floor
were added a kindergarten, teachers' room, kindergarten and teachers' toilets,
store room and exit. On the second floor were added a class room, principal's
room and library and toilet.
The school department in 191 5 had four new gymnasiums and one up-to-date
swimming pool. The pool and one new gymnasium are located at the Clark
School, one at Washington, one at Maloney and one at the Sprague School.
They are all well lighted, heated, and ventilated.
Plans were also approved for the eight-room Mattatuck School at the corner
of Seymour and Russell streets and for the long-contemplated nine-room Lincoln
School, to replace the old Lincoln School on Sperry Street.
The returns of the school enumeration for 1916 showed 24,001 children of
school age, a gain of 1,611 as compared with 191 5. The total number at school
was 21,063, a g ani °f 1,000; total number in private schools, 4,996, a gain of
521 ; a total number employed between fourteen and sixteen years of age was
548, a gain of 98. The attendance at evening schools for 1916 was 2,177, a § am
of practically 500.
The Begnal School, corner Seymour and Russell streets, containing eight
class rooms and a kindergarten, was opened in 19 17.
THE NEW VOCATIONAL AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL
The new vocational and grammar school building which is now being con-
structed on the lot adjoining the Crosby High School will have a frontage of
133 feet on East Main Street, 153 feet on North Elm Street, and 133 feet on
Water Street.
The exterior will be built of buff pressed brick trimmed with granite and
limestone to match up the present building and it will conform to the present
building in design.
The pitched slate-covered roof of the present building will be entirely
removed and the new roof of the present building and the roof of the new
building will have a practically flat surface finished in vitrified tile for play-
ground use.
There will be one entrance to the new building from East Main and two
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 73
from North Elm streets. The entrance from Water Street to the basement of
the present building may be also used for exit and entrance to the new.
The floors and roofs are to he of reinforced concrete construction ; the
staircases, of which there will be two, will extend- from the sub-basement to the
roof. These are to be of structural iron construction with selected blue stone
treads and platforms, and they will be enclosed within brick walls. The stair-
case halls will be closed off from the corridors at each floor with metal fireproof
doors, transoms and partitions glazed with wired glass.
A direct-connected electric combination passenger and freight elevator will
be installed to travel from the boiler room floor to the third floor.
The boiler room and the heating apparatus room will be below the Water
Street level. The boiler room will contain the filter and pump rooms, coal
bunker and ash bin. There will be five floors above the boiler room, the sub-
basement, basement and first, second and third floors. The sub-basement will
contain a gymnasium 42 feet 8 inches by 63 feet, with two galleries above on the
basement floor level, the boys' and girls' locker and shower rooms, drying rooms,
lounging spaces, director's room, a swimming pool 25 feet wide by 60 feet long
with a spectators' gallery 12 feet by 70 feet at one side of the pool. The sub-
basement will also furnish room for the foundry and plumbing shop, a stock
and saw room and four store rooms.
The gymnasium and locker rooms will be lined full height with glazed brick ;
the shower and drying rooms and all walls enclosing the pool will be faced with
white enameled brick. The pool, all floor spaces around the pool and the floors
of the shower rooms will be laid with tile.
The basement will contain three machine shops and a forge shop. The first,
second and third floors will contain twenty-nine class rooms and on each floor
there will be toilet rooms.
All class rooms will have glazed brick wainscot, maple floors, ash trim and
blackboards. The corridors will have composition floors on concrete and glazed
brick wainscot.
Ail class rooms on the inside of the building open to a light court 55 feet by
69 feet.
Fire standpipes will be carried up through the building to the roof at
several places and these will be equipped with hose and hose racks. Suitable
pipes and fixtures will be carried to the outside walls of the building, which will
permit the fire department to connect their apparatus and increase the water
pressure on the interior of the building. Sprinklers will be installed in the
sub-basement, basement and elsewhere in the building where combustibles may
be stored.
The new building will be connected with the Crosby High School at the
basement, first, second and third floors by means of ample corridors. To obtain
the room for these corridors several changes are to be made on the several floors
of the Crosby School. Among these will be the shortening of the boys' lunch
room in the basement, the closing up of the west entrance to the basement, the
closing up of the side entrance to offices on the first floor, adding a new vault
for the use of the school clerk, a new waiting room, new offices for the girl
clerks, the secretary and the superintendent, and using part of the women
teachers' room on the first floor. On the second floor part of the recitation rooms
and the spaces used for physical and chemical stores are to be used for cor-
ridors and the necessary additions and alterations are made to provide for store
rooms. On the third floor minor alterations only will be necessary to accommo-
date the connecting corridors.
74 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
In the near future it is the intention to use both the present and new build-
ings for a vocational school and the new building has been planned so that it
may be adapted to that use at a minimum cost. When used for a vocational
school the following rooms will be contained in the first, second and third floors :
cabinet work, pattern shop, wood turning, electric wiring and testing, printing
and bookbinding, painting and decorating, mechanical drawing, design and draw-
ing, elementary mechanical drawing, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, nursing,
elementary cooking, advanced cooking, laundry, sheet metal, general science,
women teachers, principal's office, waiting room, department office and a small
apartment containing a dining room, a living room, bath and bed room.
VALUE OF SCHOOL PROPERTY I916
This is the record from the annual report for 1916. The additional value in
schools opened and under construction in 191 7 will bring the total valuation to
nearly four million dollars. This allows approximately a million for the new
Wilby High School on Pine Street which is to be opened in 19 17 and the voca-
tional school adjoining the Crosby which when completed will have cost approxi-
mately eight hundred thousand dollars.
Important changes in the schools in 191 7 were the appointment of M. C.
Donovan as principal of the Crosby High School, succeeding Stephen W. Wilby,
who died March 30, 1917. Joseph P. Kennedy was made principal of the Wilby
High School, which opened its doors September 1, 19 17.
For 1.9 1 7 the board is expending $60,000 for gymnasium and pool in Brook-
lyn. This is to be ready in 19 18. The new thirteen-room school in the Hopeville
District, which is to contain a pool and gymnasium, will also be ready for
occupancy in 1918. The total cost of this is now placed at $100,000.
The expenditures for new buildings and additions, including furnishings, in
Waterbury schools since 1895 have been as follows:
1895 $ 32.963.68 1906 49,000.00
1896 76,441.32 1907 52,100.00
1897 2 7>793- 2 6 1908 2,900.00
1898 3 2 »445-79 1909 38,768.03
1899 108,390.04 1910 44,000.00
1900 20.444.29 1911 138,845.00
1 90 1 40,998.75 191 2 23,647.67
1902 49,884.00 1913 64,362.00
1903 36,500.00 1914 129,133.09
1904 34.523-5I 1915 126,214,93
1905 39,806.70 1916 104,051.52
Total including lots,
building, books,
School No. of rooms furniture, etc.
Crosby High 35 $266,240
Barnard 12 43,6io
Bishop 12 43,o68
Clark 14 101,787
Croft 12-20 120,526
Driggs 24 1 14,342
Duggan 20 9 6 ,356
ST. MARGARET'S SCHOOL. WATERBURY
CONVENT OF NOTRE DAME. WATERBURY
WATERIU'RY AND THE \Al( ;ATUCK VALLEY
75
School
I tamilton
Hendricken . . .
I -incoln
Maloney
Mary Abbott . .
Merrim;in ....
Mill Plain
Mulcahy
Porter
Russell
Slocum
Sprague
Town Plot ....
Walsh
Washington .. .
Webster
Welton
Stock Room . . .
Mattatuck Site
Pine Street Site
Begnal Site ...
Columbia Site .
No.
of rooms
4
10
8
16
4
16
4
12
8
12
12
16
8
18
20
6
Totals 348
Bucks Hill 2
Bunker Hill 8
Chapel 6
East Farms 1
East Mountain 2
Hopeville 4
Newton Heights 1
Oronoke 1
Park Road 4
Reidville 4
Total including lots,
building, books,
furniture, etc.
$12,695
65,348
28,822
91,781
28,822
88,694
24,983
50,184
31,666
78,730
83,737
69,422
33,822
165,794
59,660
88,336
21,868
2,882
10,000
108,000
17,000
20,000
$1,968,196
$
Totals 33
7400
44,858
20,500
3,o75
6,300
13,504
4,575
3,5i5
n,i75
7,56o
$122,462
PRESENT SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
To give a clear idea of the extension of educational work in Waterbury, the
following extracts from the 1916 report are given:
"In addition to the regular school work the teachers and pupils have engaged
in a large number of special activities much wider in scope than the exhibits of
regular school work. Nearly every building had, this year, a special exhibition
of gymnastic work of unusual merit. Two schools presented entertainments
of an unusual nature, both of which had large educational values. The Duggan
School gave an exhibition of living pictures which was greatly enjoyed and
favorably commented on by more than a thousand parents and friends, and the
76 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Walsh School presented a pageant illustrating the history of Waterbury, many
scenes of which were acted out in a truly marvelous manner.
OVER-AGE CLASSES
"A new over-age class has been opened in the Duggan building for tbe
accommodation of such pupils in the Porter, Duggan, Barnard and Town Plot
schools. Reports from all three special classes continue to show the great use-
fulness of this work, and it is planned to open other similar classes in another
year.
DOMESTIC SCIENCE
"During the last year the Hendricken and Russell schools have been equipped
with kitchens, making a total of ten, which necessitated the appointment of a new
teacher. Classes from St. Thomas' Parochial School are being accommodated
at Webster School, and special classes of backward children have been arranged
for in nearly every school. Laundry equipment is being installed in most of
the kitchens and lessons in this work have already been given to some extent.
New meat charts have been procured for four kitchens. We are revising the
course of study, giving special attention to practical and economical methods on
account of the present unnatural increase in the cost of food supplies."
WOODWORKING CLASSES
In the woodworking departments the report shows 15 classes in the Margaret
Croft School, averaging 17 each; in the Driggs School there are 12 classes; in
the Lincoln School, 3 ; in the Duggan, 2 ; in the Walsh, 2 ; in the Sprague, 5 ;
Webster, 7 ; Mary Abbott and St. Thomas Parochial, 6 ; Washington and Mul-
cahy, 5 ; Russell, 4 ; Merriman, 4 ; Hendricken, Mill Plain and Hamilton Avenue, 7.
THE CONTINUATION SCHOOL
One of the most important advances made in Waterbury was unquestionably
the establishment in November, 1912, of the Continuation School.
There were seven manufacturing concerns who desired to send a total of
210 apprentices. As the capacity of the school had been set at 180 students and
more factories made application to enter apprentices, the school board was com-
pelled to increase the accommodations. The school opened for its second year
September, 1913, with 20 manufacturers sending a total of 250 apprentices.
Tn 191 7 the classes number 200.
The following is the curriculum:
First Year
Shop Arithmetic. — The four fundamental operations. Fractions, decimals,
percentage, ratio and proportion. English and metric units of length, area,
volume and weight. Square root. Mensuration. Practical examples.
Reports and discussions, from articles in trade papers. Oral reports and
discussions to encourage public speaking and debating. Written reports to give
training in spelling, writing and composition.
Shop Talks. — The opportunities in the machine industry. The requirements
of a first-class machinist. A brief description of machines used by the machinist.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Chisels and chiseling operations; hies and filing; hand tools; small tools,
study of the materials of construction.
History and Civics. -Study of the history, growth and government of Water-
bury. The development of the various industries of Waterhury.
Personal Hygiene. — Good habits for the worker, hygiene of the workroom;
fatigue; occupational dangers; first aid to the injured; tuherculosis, etc.
Drawing. — Free-hand sketching. Free-hand drawing on cross-section paper
of tools and machine parts. Simple projection.
Second Year
Shop Mathematics. — Solution of an equation. Formulas in power, speeds, and
feeds of simple machines. Theory of exponents. Logarithms, powers and roots.
The slide rule. Solution of the right angle triangle.
Reports and discussions on topics assigned from the geographical relation of
iron and brass; their founding and manufacture. Written and oral descriptions
of tools, parts of machines and machine operations.
Shop Talks. — A study of the following: Drilling machines, lathe planer,
shaper, milling machine, boring mills and grinding machines. Selection of grind-
ing wheels. Gears and methods of cutting. The art of cutting metals.
Civics.— Government of Connecticut. Connecticut's position in the manufac-
turing world.
Character Study. — A study of the lives and contributions of the nation's noted
inventors and the influence of their inventions upon the progress of manufactures
of the country.
Mechanical Drawing. — Simple and oblique projections. Free-hand isometric
drawing.
Third and Fourth Years
Practical Mathematics. — Solution of diagrams. Practical problems.
Reports and discussions, from trade journals.
Shop Talks. — Layout and assembly operations. Care of belting. Lubricating
oils and cutting solutions. Manufacturing talks. Heat treatment of steel. Tool
making. Cam cutting.
Civics. — The national government. Duties of citizenship.
Mechanical Drawing. — Sketches of machine parts and drawing from same.
Isometric drawing.
Applied Mathematics. — Applied problems and review.
Reports and discussions, from trade journals.
Shop Talks. — A study of turret lathes, automatic machines and their tools.
Forge, foundry and pattern work. Power transmission. A brief talk on the pur-
pose and development of scientific methods as applied to shop work.
Mechanics. — Laws of gases, liquids and solids. A study of heat and its prac-
tical application. Elementary electricity and the principles of electric machines, etc.
Strength of Materials. — Strength of machine parts, tools, etc.
Drawing, link motions, cam layouts. Solution of problems by graphics.
The fifth year of Continuation School work started September, 1916, with 215
apprentices enrolled, twenty-three factories sending apprentices.
The first graduating class of seven apprentices received diplomas in June, 1916,
and at the same time certificates were awarded to ninety-six apprentices for satis-
78 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
factorily completing their studies while attending the Continuation School. Dur-
ing this year a course for automatic screw machine operators was introduced.
The work of the Continuation School has attracted attention throughout the
country.
THE SALESMANSHIP SCHOOL
The Salesmanship School, which was conducted in 191 5 and 1916, has been
temporarily suspended for 191 7. Conditions in the city this year and last year are
and have been very unfavorable to the work in that a shortage of help in the stores
makes it difficult to spare any to attend the school. In spite of this, the merchants
have shown a much greater interest and desire to avail themselves of the oppor-
tunity of increasing the efficiency of their store forces, as is shown by the fact
that the enrollment in 1916 was more than fifty. Because of this need for more
help in the stores, an entirely new plan had been worked out with much success.
Classes were held in two of the stores, instead of at the school, taking the time of
the teacher rather than that of the saleswomen in going back and forth. Thus in
the Grant and Hutchinson 25-Cent Stores all the saleswomen attended the classes,
half coming at one time, half at another. There was less individual work, but
much greater enthusiasm and more ground covered. A class from the Reid &
Hughes Dry Goods Co., and from Grieve, Bisset and Holland, attended the school.
The work will be resumed as economic conditions permit.
THE OPEN AIR SCHOOL
During the spring of 191 2 several prominent ladies of Waterbury established
an Open Air School for Tuberculous Children which was at first conducted at no
expense whatever to the Department of Education. It was first located in a re-
constructed building in the rear of the Industrial School, on Central Avenue. The
method of operation was unique. The children were given three meals a day,
which at the outset were served in a dining room in the basement of the Industrial
School Building. They were served with good nourishing food, plenty of milk,
bread and butter, vegetables, good soups, cooked fruits and such. The meals cost
from 17 to 18 cents a day per child.
After dinner the children lie down for an hour before the afternoon session,
on cots which are in the school room. They are weighed once a week. "Sitting
out" bags are provided for the use of the children in the cold weather, also warm
caps and gloves.
In October of 191 5 the Open Air School was transferred to the Clark School
and placed under the entire control of the Board of Education. In this building
two large rooms are used for class room and rest purposes, both equipped with
the very latest devices. In the basement a large room has been fitted up as a
kitchen and dining room with neat, serviceable and modern equipment. The pupils
in this school also have the opportunity of using the roof playground and, taken
altogether, the arrangements for the Open Air School are as complete as will be
found in any similar school in this country.
The Board of Health, through the school physicians and nurses, is actively
co-operating in its management, and the Waterbury Dental Association is taking
care of the children's teeth. As soon as funds are available and there is need, it
is planned to open a similar school or schools in other sections of the city.
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 79
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN
In 1914 an important investigation was begun on employment of children. In
his report for that year, the superintendent has this to say by way of comparing
Waterbury with other Connecticut cities :
"Some interesting figures have just been published by the State Board of Edu-
cation relative to the employment of children between the ages of fourteen and
sixteen years that I think will prove to be of interest to you. The charge is some-
times brought against the schools that we are unable to hold any appreciable per
cent of children between fourteen and sixteen; that large numbers of them go to
work. Now this may be and may not be true. Whatever the facts of the case
may be, the figures from the State Department show that, as compared with New
Haven and Bridgeport, the per cent of fourteen and sixteen-year-olds that we hold
in the schools is twice as great as theirs, and, as compared with all the cities of
the state, we are head and shoulders above any. For example, in New Haven
there is one certificated child to every twenty-two between fourteen and sixteen
years of age; in Bridgeport twenty-four and Hartford thirty-one, and in New
Britain, our nearest competitor, thirty-seven, while Waterbury has only one
certificated child of school age out of every fifty pupils between fourteen and
sixteen years of age."
FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
"In the entire city, nearly one-half, or 50 per cent, of the pupils in school, have
parents who were born in non-English speaking countries. In Bishop Street, Clay
Street, Croft, Duggan and Barnard schools about three-fourths of the children
have parents who were born in non-English speaking countries. The per cents
vary all the way from yy per cent at Bishop to 6 per cent at Washington. It goes
without saying that those schools which have the higher per cents of pupils whose
parents were born in non-English speaking countries have peculiar problems to
solve that the other schools do not have."
The average enrollment of children born in foreign countries is about 12 per
cent.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Among the private schools running in 1893, the most important was "St. Mar-
garet's School for Girls," which was long conducted under the auspices of the
Waterbury School Association, a private organization of citizens, and in 1875 was
presented to the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut for a Diocesan School. In
1895, Miss Mary R. Hillard was placed in charge and remained until 1908. The
school is still running successfully, with a vastly extended curriculum. It is now
in charge of Rev. John N. Lewis, Jr.. rector; Emily Gardne r Munro, principal.
In 1908, Miss Hillard decided to establish a school Tor girls at Middlebury,
Conn., and interested many of the leading men and women in Waterbury in this
enterprise. A company was formed with John H. Whittemore at its head and a
magnificent school building was erected in Middlebury. Of this the architect was
Miss Theodate Pope, now Mrs. John Riddle, and it is one of the model school
buildings of the state, its cost running up to $100,000. The name of the school
is "The Westover."
The school was opened in the spring of 1909, with 125 in attendance, some-
thing over actual capacity. It has been run successfully ever since. Dr. Mary R.
80 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Hillard is still in charge. Its attendance this year, with its increased capacity, is
150. The new studio, constructed recently, is also in use. Harris Whittemore
succeeded his father as president of the Westover School Corporation.
The Academy of the Convent of Notre Dame celebrated its quarter centennial
in 1894. At that time it was under the direction of Madam St. Stanislaus. Today
it is in charge of Sister Superior St. Faustina. It has 14 teachers and 220 pupils.
St. Mary's Parochial School was established August 29, 1886, by Father Mul-
cahy, and was in its own building at the beginning of this quarter century, 1893.
This had been solemnly blessed on September 3, 1888. It is interesting to note
that during his entire Waterbury pastorate, Father Mulcahy was a member of the
Board of Education of the Center district, and was for some years chairman of
the board.
Father Mulcahy also built the convent, in 1889. In its first year the school had
700 children, in charge of 12 Sisters. Sister Superior Rosita was then superin-
tendent of the school. Monsignor Slocum, in 1902, built the Mulcahy Memorial,
which is now used as a club house for the school alumni and alumnae. In 1905
the eight-room grammar school was built. This gives the school at present twenty
rooms. The attendance in 191 7 is 950. In 1916 it was 1,050. There are now
twenty Sisters teaching, in charge of Sister Superior Claudine.
Sister Superior Claudine came to Waterbury from Convent Station, N. J., in
1897, and has been in continuous charge since then.
The record of parochial schools for 1917 is as follows:
St Mary's Parochial School for the Parish of the Immaculate Conception —
Sisters in charge, 20; pupils, 1,100.
School of the Sacred Heart Convent — Sisters in charge, 9 ; pupils 414.
Parochial School of St. Ann's Church — Sisters in charge, 17; pupils, 600.
Parochial School of St. Joseph's Church (Lithuanian) — Sisters in charge, 12;
pupils, 578.
Parochial School of St. Thomas Church — Sisters in charge, 1 1 ; pupils, 490.
Academy of the Convent of Notre Dame — Sisters in charge, 14; pupils, 220.
Parochial School of St. Margaret's Parish — Sisters in charge, 9 ; pupils, 350.
This school was opened in 1914.
BERLIN WRIGHT TINKER
Berlin Wright Tinker, superintendent of schools since 1897, succeeded to the
position on the death of Superintendent Crosby. Thus during the past quarter
century there have been but two men in active charge of the educational work of
Waterbury.
Mr. Tinker was born in Jerusalem, N. Y., February 7, 1867, and was educated
in the public schools of Norwich, where his father was the minister of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church. He graduated from Bates College, then took a year's
special course at Boston University. His educational work began as principal of
the High School at Chelmsford, Mass. He was later in charge of the high schools
at Southborough, Marblehead and Marlboro, coming to Waterbury in 1897. He
is a member of the First Church. On August 25, 1889, he was married to Eliza-
beth French Wyer.
The long record of progress, of wise adjustment to conditions, is the best
tribute that can be paid him. He has not alone kept the schools of Waterbury in
the forefront of America's city educational institutions, but he has, by original
work, contributed materially to the advance of educational methods everywhere.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 81
STEPHEN WILLIAM WILBY
Stephen William Wilby was principal of the Crosby High School from 1896
to the time of his death, March 30, 1917, a period of twenty-one years of able
service to the city.
He was born at Spencer, Mass., November 27, 1865, graduated from Montreal
College and later attended Holy Cross College, in Worcester. From this he grad-
uated, in [888. 1 fe began teaching in Epiphany College, one of the principal acad-
emies in Baltimore, and later at St. Andrews' Seminary, Rochester. In 1895 he
came to the Waterbury schools and was appointed principal of the High School
in [896.
His work here has been of exceptional value. The constant yearly increase in
attendance necessitated make-shifts without detracting from the value of the
school work, and in this labor he demonstrated a rare power of organization and
of executive ability.
Many additions to the courses were recommended by him when the work of
double sessions was in itself enough to keep his mind and time occupied, showing
that nothing could deter him from keeping the Crosby High School up to standard.
MINOT SHERMAN CROSBY
Minot Sherman Crosby was connected with the Waterbury schools from 1870
to 1897, the year of his death. From 1870 to 1891 he was both principal of the
Waterbury High School and Superintendent of Schools. In 1891 he was relieved
of the high school work and confined his labors to superintending the schools of
the Center district. He was born in Conway, Mass., prepared for college at
Phillips Academy, and graduated from Amherst. For ten years he was a teacher in
the public schools of this state and in private schools in Virginia and New York.
In 1861 he became principal of the Hartford Female Seminary. In September,
1870, he came to Waterbury. His work here was of exceptional value in estab-
lishing a sound foundation for the great growth that came in later years.
The new high school, completed the year before his death, was named Crosby,
in honor of his long years of useful work in Waterbury.
Till-: NEW WILBY HIGH SCHOOL
At present the sessions in the Crosby High School Building are divided, as fol-
lows : Crosby High pupils. 8 A. M. to 12:45 P - M. ; Wilby High pupils, 1 P. M.
to 5 P. M. The Crosby is what might be termed the Classical High, and the Wilby
the English, Commercial and Household Economics school. The new Wilby High,
which will cost when completed, with its site on Pine and Grove streets, approxi-
mately Si, 000,000. will be ready for occupancy in T919. The building will accom-
modate from 1,200 to 1,500 pupils. The architect, L. A. Walsh, 'has provided for
approximately thirty-four rooms. It will be a fireproof structure, 190 by 196 feet,
on the so-called hollow-square plan, the rooms being arranged about the .outside
of the square, with the assembly hall in the center. The exterior provides a build-
ing on the Tudor-Gothic style, built of red rough tapestry brick with the orna-
mentation concentrated about the main front entrance and the two Pine Street
entrances. The floors of corridors, toilet rooms, lunch room, pool room and lecker
rooms are to be terrazo. The floors of all other rooms are to be maple. The
building has been set close to Pine Street, so thai the approaches for pupils from
Grove Street may be made on an easy slope.
Vol. 1—6
82 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
SCHOOL REGISTRATION FOR 1917
The following is the school registration for 1917:
Crosby High School 897 Slocum 581
Wilby High School 553 Sprague 473
Abbott 171 Town Plot 303
Barnard 332 Walsh 1,092
Begnal 415 Washington : . . . 585
Bishop 530 Webster 829
Bunker Hill 315 Welton 223
Columbia 266 Maloney 622
Croft 1,396 Bucks Hill 40
Driggs 800 Chapel 179
Duggan 715 East Farms 33
Hamilton 90 East Mountain 87
Hendricken 384 Hopeville 127
Merriman 583 Oronoke 16
Mill Plain 227 Park Road 47
Mulcahy 446 Reidville 107
Newton Heights 52
Porter 230 Total 14,172
Russell 426
MEDICAL INSPECTION
The medical inspection in the schools of Waterbury dates back to 1898, when
the first eyesight tests were made. The discovery of defective vision in about 11
per cent of the children and the immediate efforts made to remedy this evil led
in the following year to the passage of a state act, making these tests compulsory
in all schools every three years.
Medical inspection was introduced about 1907, and it was due largely to the
efforts of the school doctors that children with weak lungs were segregated, as
far as possible, and that the Open Air School was started in 191 2.
Today the Dental Association of Waterbury devotes some time to inspection of
teeth. The school physicians for 19 17 are Drs. Charles A. Monagan and John W.
Fruin, who make the rounds of all the schools of the city. Two nurses are also in
the service of the schools and work either in the homes or schools, as the doctors
advise.
MARGARET CROFT
The Board of Education struck a tender and popular chord when it named one
of its latest and best school buildings the Margaret Croft School. For Margaret
Croft was first of all a native of Waterbury, and, what is more important, one of
the great factors in the advancement of its schools.
She was born here, January 25, 1835, the daughter of James and Polly W.
Croft. Her father was the first person jn Waterbury who had been trained in the
art of making gilt buttons. He was identified with this industry until his death,
in 1S37.
Margaret Croft graduated at Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1855, was a teacher
in Mississippi in 1855 and 1856, and in Georgia from 1858 to 1861. In 1863 she
became a Waterbury teacher, and her work was of such exceptional worth that
THK MARGARET CROFT SCHOOL, WATERBl'RY
CROSB1 lllcil SCHOOL, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 83
she was later appointed assistant principal of the High School, which position she
retained until 1909, when she retired. She died August 20, 191 1.
She was thus connected actively with the schools of Waterhury for forty-six
years, and had during that long period been one of the greatest of Waterbury's
educational and moral influences.
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY
Joseph P. Kennedy, the principal of the Wilby High School, is a Waterbury
boy. He was born here March 28, 1877, was educated in the Waterbury public
schools and later graduated from St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Md. He came
to the Waterbury schools as a substitute teacher in 1898, and in February, 1900,
was made teacher of mathematics at the Crosby High School. In 1914 he was
made sub-master, In September, 1917, he was appointed principal of the Wilby
High School.
He is devoting much of his time to planning improvements for the Wilby High
School Building, which is to be ready for occupancy in 1919.
MICHAEL C. DONOVAN
Michael C. Donovan, principal of the Crosby High School, was born in
Belvidere, N. Y., October 12, 1868, and was educated in the public and parochial
schools there and in Wellsville, N. Y. He graduated from Niagara University,
Niagara Falls, N. Y., in 1892 and in June, 1917, his college gave him the honorary
degree of Litt. D.
He received his Normal training in the Teachers' College, Buffalo. For two
years after taking this course he worked for the Standard Oil Company at
Lima and Findlay, Ohio.
In 1898 he came as teacher to the Crosby High School, W r aterbury, where
he has been ever since. In September, 1904, when the Department of English
was created at the Crosby High School, he was placed in charge of it.
He was made temporary principal on March 15, 1917, and principal May 1,
1917.
Mr. Donovan has thus been connected with the Waterbury schools for nearly
twenty years, and throughout that period has given valuable service to its pupils.
He is a strict disciplinarian and has done much to advance the cause of education
in Waterbury.
THE DAVID G. PORTER COLLEGE BEQUEST
David G. Porter, born in Waterbury March 8, 1833, who spent most of an
active life in this city, died October 7, 1905, and left a large portion of his
estate for the founding of a college. He knew that in itself it would not suffice
for the purpose he had in mind and in his will he states that "when the accumu-
lation, increased by possible contribution?, donations or bequests from other
sources, shall be deemed sufficient for the purpose, the trustees shall establish a
school or college on the portion of land west of the Meriden Road, to be operated
according to the following plan : —
"The courses of study in the institution may be literary and classical, or
scientific and technical, or both, but shall in any case be made up of a six-month
winter term for young men, extending from October 1st to April 1st, these dates
being movable at the discretion of the trustees, but so as to comprise not less
84 WATERBURY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY
than six months, inclusive of a holiday recess of not more than one week, and
shall be arranged so as to rise in grade, each succeeding term or year above the
preceding, and covering a period of not less than three, nor more than six years.
"The courses of study for young women shall be made up of summer terms
of not less than three months each, and shall extend over a period of not more
than four years ; and as far as practicable, special prominence shall be given in
these courses to the theory and practice of domestic science, literature and
modern languages ; and a study of the constellations of the visible heavens, and
of ornithology shall be included."
The following explanatory paragraph is also signed by the testator and made
a part and parcel of the will :
''The purpose of the residuary legacy is to provide for the beginning of a
school, or college, to be operated on a plan by which young men can earn during
the six summer months what they will need to spend at college during the other
six months of the year; in order that capable young men, who are so disposed,
can secure a liberal education independently, and of their own resources, without
incurring debt or the risk of injury to health by attempting double work ; and
so that young women can receive such instruction in college courses as shall be
fitted to their circumstances and needs under similar conditions, but without
what is termed co-education."
The following are named in the will to hold the property in trust for the
above purposes : Cornelius Tracy, Albert D. Field, Charles L. Holmes, Edwy E.
Benedict, Helen P. Camp and Margaret Torrance Holmes, wife of Walter W.
Holmes.
The Waterbury Trust Company was elected trustee of the fund on July 26,
1907. It now approximates $45,000.
David Porter devoted many years of his life to the study of theological and
educational questions. Many of his contributions appeared in the New Christian
Quarterly, some in the New En°lander and the Journal of Social Science.
After the publication of ''The History of Waterbury," Mr. Porter published
the following: "The Elder from Ephesus," 1897; "The Perversion of Funds
in the Land Grant Colleges," 1897; "Religion Straight from the Bible," 1902;
"The Kingdom of God." 1905.
In 1904 Mr. Porter edited and contributed largely to the cost of publication
of a volume of 200 pages entitled, "A Century in the History of the Baptist
Church in Waterbury, Conn." Interesting among a quantity of miscellaneous
manuscript is. "The English Language and Its Written Expression."
THE SILAS BRONJSON LIBRARY
Beginning in 1869, with an endowment by Silas Bronson, of Middlebury, of
$200,000, the Silas Bronson Library was directed for some years according to
the scholarly ideas then prevailing, and fulfilled its function as a storehouse for
the preservation of rare and costly books.
Later, the pressure of democratic tendencies forced it into line with a move-
ment directed by the American Library Association and having for its aim "The
best books for the largest number at the least cost." To this "library move-
ment." so-called, is due the present system of free libraries supported by the
people and appealing to them under the democratic title of "People's Universi-
ties." The Bronson Library belongs to both periods and shows the influence
of both.
In its reference department are rare and beautiful works such as the early
BROXSOX LIBRARY, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 85
editions of Ruskin valued at $200; the Versailles gallery of pictures in 13
volumes, quoted at $610; Audubon's "Birds of North America," at $500; Tryon's
"Manual of Conchology" in 35 volumes, valued at $700; and others of equal
scarceness. The library has also 2.000 or more volumes relating to local history
and genealogy, hooks wisely chosen for the model collection which now attract
visitors from all parts of the state.
The library museum contains tine mineral specimens exhibited at the World's
Fair in Chicago and secured for the library by Cornelius Tracy, a herbarium
collected by H. F. Bassett in several different states, 1,000 coins presented by
Nathan Dikeman, and war relics from southern battlefields and the Philippines.
In 1906, F. J. Kingsbury, with the co-operation of the Naturalist Club, presented
a fine collection of New England birds valued at about twelve hundred dollars ;
and in 1910, specimens of rare •butterflies beautifully mounted, were given by the
Misses Merriman and Mrs. F. E. Castle.
The aristocratic period of development ended in 1900, when the circulation of
books fell to 69,600 volumes for the year, although in the first year of the
library's establishment, the circulation was 76,769 volumes based on a collection
of less than 12,000 books.
In 1902, readers were for the first time admitted to the shelves of the book-
room, the stringency of the rules for borrowers was relaxed, and the library
became at once a popular institution. The record of succeeding years has been
one of progress along democratic lines, and the issues of the library have increased
from 69,600 volumes in 1900 to nearly 400,000 volumes in 19 17.
An unexpected result has been the rapid growth in the reference use of the
library by the masses of the people. A few years ago questions involving
research of any sort were rarely asked; but during the past year 1,831 subjects
were referred to the librarian for special material. The use of the library is
developed through a special department cared for by a "readers' " information
librarian, who aids people in the use of the case catalogue, provides material
for essays and debates, and answers all questions requiring special knowledge,
including those sent by telephone.
From this department is issued the monthly bulletin of the library, with
lists on subjects such as the war, new thought, books about Ireland, technical
books, city government and social betterment, while the bulletin board in the
hallway calls attention to books relating to holidays and anniversaries or to other
topics of special interest. Postals are also sent out notifying persons of recent
additions in certain classes of literature.
The collection of pamphlets numbering some fifty-five thousand is an impor-
tant aid in information work and includes in their season such popular features
as tourists' guides and the latest catalogues of colleges and universities.
Novel readers are accommodated by a collection of pay duplicates, and atten-
tion is -called to the best stories in many lines by volumes grouped in the book-
room under such designations as Stories of Country Life. New England Stories,
Ghost Stories, Civil War Stories, and One Hundred of the Best Novels, all of
which have their special patrons.
Tiie school work of the library is directed by a trained children's librarian
under whose care are the children's rooms in the main building, and the branches,
and the deposit libraries sent each year to every grade beginning with the third in
seventeen schoolhouses.
In the Brooklyn branch, story-telling as a method of interesting children in the
best books has been introduced with success, and boys' as well as girls' reading
clubs are in the process of formation.
86 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
During the weeks before Christmas, an exhibition of the books most loved
by children is always arranged at the main library and invitations to visit it are
sent to mothers interested in selecting books as gifts. The library has also a per-
manent collection of books for story-telling reserved for the use of mothers and
teachers, and there is now a model library of 500 of the volumes best adapted for
supplementary reading in the schools.
The library co-operates with teachers in many ways, lending books for class-
room use and providing two study rooms for young essay writers and for those
working on material for debates. There is also a lending collection of pictures
patronized by teachers; by students of design; and, as to the portraits, by writers
for the newspapers.
From these examples, it will be seen that by following after and supplying the
popular demand, the Silas Bronson Library has achieved a great increase in use-
fulness and is committed to many new lines of activity. It has now, including
school libraries and branches, nineteen outside agencies for the distribution of
books and each of these is the nucleus for increasing usefulness. Twenty assistants
are employed, though, a few years ago, seven sufficed.
The new building in Library Park on Grand Street, was opened in 1894. The
Children's Room was opened in 1898. Miss Helen Sperry was appointed librarian
in 1906. The stack room was opened to the public in 1902. Books have been
sent to the schools since 1903.
The branches were established as follows :
Waterville, 1907.
South Waterbury, opened 1908; closed, 1912.
Brooklyn, opened 1909.
Rose Hill, opened 1913.
There were in the library on January 1, 19 17, 100,345 books.
The board of agents of the Bronson Library consists of twelve electors of
the city, two of whom are elected at each biennial city election, to hold office
for a period of twelve years from the fourth day of July next following their
election.
The board of agents of the Bronson Library are legally constituted agents
of the City of Waterbury, with full power to collect, invest, expend, manage and
control the Bronson Library Fund and the income therefrom, and to establish,
regulate and manage the Bronson Library.
Following are the officers :
Martin Scully, president; Lewis A. Piatt, secretary; Otis S. Northrop, treas-
urer; Helen Sperry, librarian.
The board of agents at present is as follows :
Charles H. Swenson, Mark L. Sperry, James E. Russell, Otis S. Northrop,
John O'Neill, Terrence F. Carmody, John P. Kellogg, Francis P. Guilfoile,
Lewis A. Piatt, Bernard A. Fitzpatrick, James S. Elton, Martin Scully.
THE MATTATUCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
It appears from the brief record in the "History of Waterbury," by Dr. Joseph
Anderson, that an historical society was projected by some of its citizens in
1875, "but the scheme did not take definite shape until 1877, the bicentennial of
the settlement of the town, when special interest in local history was aroused."
The origin of the society as related in the first entry in its records was as
follows : "Upon an invitation signed by F. J. Kingsbury, Joseph Anderson, and
H. F. Bassett, the following named gentlemen met at the rooms of the Waterbury
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 87
Scientific Society on the evening of December 22, 1877, for the organization of
an historical society: F. J. Kingsbury, Rev. Joseph Anderson, Prof. Isaac |en-
nings, E. L. Brown, S. W. Kellogg, George E. Terry, N. |. Welton, Anson G.
Stocking, Rev. E. G. l'.eekwith. I). I)., Prof. M. S. Crosby, H. F. Bassett."
The constitution adopted at that meeting gave as its purpose the collection and
preservation "of whatever, in the opinion of its members, may serve to explain
or illustrate the history, civil or ecclesiastical, the archaeology, or the natural
history of the State of Connecticut, and especially the region originally included
in the Town of Waterbury and formerly known as Mattatuck." There were
twenty signers. In addition to those already mentioned, these were: Israel
Holmes, D. L. Durand. David B. Hamilton, S. M. Terry, G. W. Tucker, S. B.
Terry, Robert W. Hill, Fred A. Mason, Gideon L. Piatt, George W. Cook,
C. M. Piatt, James O. Cook, Guernsey S. Parsons, George R. Welton, John O'Neill,
Jr.. Israel Coe. Mr. Kingsbury was its first president and Geo. A. Tucker its
first secretary.
In May, 1896, a collection of stone implements, representing the American
Indian, was shown at the Y. M. C. A. This was purchased by Elisha Leaven-
worth and Cornelius Tracy, and placed on the upper floor of the Bronson Library.
Mr. Leavenworth announced that he would provide for its proper housing in a
new building, which was to be a museum in charge of the Historical Society.
Later, for the purpose of officially receiving this and other like gifts, "The
Mattatuck Historical Society" was incorporated, February 14, 1902, with the fol-
lowing incorporators : Frederick J. Kingsbury, Joseph Anderson, Anna L. Ward,
Katherine A. Prichard, David G. Porter, John G. Davenport and Charles L.
Holmes. Its first officers after incorporation were : President, Frederick J. Kings-
bury ; vice presidents, Joseph Anderson, Sarah J. Prichard ; treasurer, Charles L.
Holmes ; secretary, Katherine A. Prichard ; directors, John G. Davenport, Anna L.
Ward, David G. Porter.
Beginning with the annual meeting of December 10, 1902, the organization met
regularly on the second Monday of March, June, October and December. Before
it had its own building, these meetings were held in the conference room of the
First Church, and from October, 1907, to June, 1910, at the home of President
Kingsbury.
On June 8, 1904, the society received from Elisha Leavenworth a gift of
x$to.ooo, and on October 10, 1007, he purchased and presented to the society the
ethnological and archaeological library collected by Dr. Joseph Anderson. This
consisted of several thousand books and pamphlets relating to the races of men,
the stone age in Europe and America, and the American Indian.
The death of President Kingsbury occurred September 30, 1910, and Dr. Joseph
Anderson succeeded him at the following annual meeting in December, 19 10.
By the will of Elisha Leavenworth, who died January 6, 191 1, the society was
bequeathed ample funds with which to purchase its own home. On June 14. 191 1,
therefore, the first meeting was held in what had been known as the Ludington
Place on West Main Street, and which had been purchased for $co,ooo. Later in
this year the society purchased the ground adjoining it, on Kendrick Street,
26J/2 by TT2 feet, and in 1912 erected the present Museum Building, which is
50 feet wide and 62 feet long. This building 1 , by Architects Gripes and Hunt, of
Waterbury, is connected with the house fronting on West Main Street by a broad
hall and marble steps. It is three stories in height, with an auditorium on the top
floor, which has been regularly used since 1912 for the six successive picture
exhibitions of the society. The main floor and a large part of the first floor are
set apart for museum purposes.
88 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The basement at the present time is devoted to those articles which have not
as yet been placed on exhibition, or which are too large to permit of their occu-
pying space in the main museum. Among the articles to be found there are a
carpet loom which was built into a house on Hunter Mountain, Naugatuck, and
which had to be taken to pieces to be removed from its former home to its present
position : also the first carriage ever seen in Waterbury.
On the top floor is the lecture hall of the society. This is fitted with proper
lighting apparatus for a picture gallery. The first painting received toward a
permanent collection is "A Road Near the Sea," by William Langsen Lathrop.
But the room in which much interest centers is the museum occupying the
main floor of the building. In this there are twenty-one cases, sixteen arranged
in rows on either side of the room, twelve being table cases, four table and wall
cases combined, and the other five being centrally placed. The wall cases, which
occupy the space at the further end of the hall, are memorial cases dedicated to
Col. Jonathan Baldwin, Miss Sarah J. Prichard, Bennet Bronson and Deacon
Aaron Benedict. These were presented by Miss Katherine L. Peck, Miss
Katherine A. Prichard, J. Hobart Bronson and Mrs. Gilman C. Hill.
Since 1914, three memorial cases have been added, the gifts of the Kingsbury
family, the descendants of Wm. H. Scovill and the Henry W. Scovills.
The late Doctor Anderson so skillfully arranged the exhibition that in passing
down the east side of the room, the visitor sees first relics from ancient Babylonia
and Assyria, then comes the neolithic collection, mostly from Denmark, followed
by the American prehistoric collection arranged geographically. The modern
American Indian collection presents a pleasing contrast to that of the prehistoric
collection. The part played by the white man in American history is represented
by a collection of wonderful laces, silk garments, lace collars, traveling bags,
together with autographs and documents of various sorts, — the niceties of the
white man's civilization which he early introduced into the rough country he had
chosen for his new home.
The cases along the west side of the room are devoted mostly to the collection
of Revolutinary and Civil war relics, a miscellaneous collection of Waterbury and
other relics, a miscellaneous collection of shells and the mineralogical collection
which has been loaned by the Bronson Library.
Several of the collections either have been donated or loaned by Waterbury
people who have a deep interest in historical Waterbury. The prehistoric col-
lection from Nova Scotia was given by W. W. Holmes, the Prince Edward Island
collection by H. W. Hayden ; the ethnological collection of modern Indians by
H. H. Peck, the modern Indian industry collection by Cornelius Tracy, the Hayden
collection of modern Indian industry by Mrs. Shirley Fulton, the Bienstadt col-
lection of modern Indian industry by Miss Caroline Piatt, the collection of old
laces by the Misses Kingsbury, the lace and shawl collection by Miss Katherine
A. Prichard, and several other collections, including the Cowles collection of
pistols and the Peck collection of swords are to be found there.
The Babylonian and Assyrian tablets are of various ages, from the most
remote period down to the time of Darius. They contain records of prayers and
hymns, astrological notes, omens, lists of sacrifices, wills, contracts, sales of lands,
receipts for loans, legal proceedings, with many other commercial and religious
matters. Some of them bear their exact date.
The paleolithic collection, which is next in order, includes some of the oldest
known implements. Most of these are from France, the collection of French
polished stone and flint implements found near Amiens and the Chellean imple-
ments taken from the gravel of the River Somme, the site where many remark-
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 89
able chipped hand implements have been found, being examples of what this part
of the collection has to offer.
The neolithic collection is made up mostly of Danish implements of much
superior quality to the paleolithic collection. Celts, polished and unpolished,
stone axes and gouges, flint axes, chipped spears, and knives and perfected axes
tell the story of human progress.
The American prehistoric collection, that gathered largely by Doctor Ander-
son, occupies five entire cases and in this all parts of the United States are rep-
resented.
The Nova Scotia collection, the gift of W. W. Holmes, and the Prince Edward
Island collection, the gift of H. W. Hayden, are followed by the Maine collection,
which was the result of the explorations of W. K. Moorehead. The New Hamp-
shire and Vermont collection of arrow heads, stone and iron axes, celts, medals,
pipes, etc. About the same things are to be found in the collections from Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island.
The Connecticut collection, which is quite extensive, is arranged according to
the various divisions of the state. The eastern division includes such towns and
cities as Sterling, Stonington, Putnam, Mystic and Jewett City. In the central
division are East Hartford, Torrington. Windsor Hill. Then comes a division
which includes the vicinity about New Haven, and last is the division included in
the vicinity about Waterbury. From the New Haven vicinity, especially from
West Haven and Woodmont, the home of Doctor Anderson, are many arrow-
heads broken in the making. More abundant than arrowheads are these so-called
"rejects," the failures in arrow making. They are stones which proved too
obdurate to work. Besides containing the usual Indian relics, the collection from
the vicinity about Waterbury includes pieces of wood taken from a considerable
depth and bearing the marks of having been cut with some blunt instrument.
The depth at which they were found, and also the fact that they are petrified,
shows that they were cut and buried centuries ago.
The collection from the other states of the Union include numerous articles
of interest. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West
Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, the gulf states, Tennessee, Ken-
tucky, the Ohio River Valley states, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arkansas,
Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, the Rocky Mountain states, — in short, every part of
the Union has contributed something toward the American prehistoric collection
now in the museum of the Mattatuck Historical Society. The various sections of
the country have contributed articles of various types. The South has furnished
many articles in the pottery line, the western states have furnished large and
heavy stone articles. From Oregon the collection of chipped implements and orna-
ments of jasper, agate, carnelian, is one of the most beautiful Indian collections
in existence. This is the gift of Irving IT. Chase.
At the southern end of the museum are the combined table and wall cases. In
the first part of the wall cases is exhibited the portrait of Col. Jacob Kingsbury,
a member of the Society of Cincinnati. This portrait was painted by Waldo
about 1810, and, together with the certificate of membership in that society, was
loaned by the Misses Kingsbury. The lace collection, including specimens of old
Spanish blonde of the seventeenth century. Point de Milan of the eighteenth
century, Flemish pillow lace, also of the eighteenth century, and Point d'Alenqon
of the seventeenth century, was also loaned by the Misses Kingsbury, and occupies
one of the table cases.
Of much interest is the case of old deeds, Indian deeds relating to the settle-
ment of Mattatuck, proprietors' records, etc., a note book belonging to Rev. John
90 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Southmayd when at Harvard College, in 1694, being of special value. Here also
are the ear bones of Rev. John Southmayd, preserved in a tiny bottle.
The Hayden collection, the gift of Mrs. Shirley Fulton in memory of her
father, contains many fine specimens of modern Indian industry. This collection
occupies two cases. Across the aisle from this is the Bienstadt collection, the
gift of Miss Caroline Piatt. Miss Katherine A. Prichard has loaned various
family heirlooms, including the wedding veil worn by her mother in 1827, and
also a beautifully embroidered silk shawl.
An idea of the dress of the early American women is given by two calashes,
which were worn by elderly women over their caps, and traveling bags, one of
which was embroidered in 1838 by Cornelia M. Johnson. These articles have
been loaned by Mrs. G. C. Hill. Some valuable autographs, various old publica-
tions, early bank bills and a few miscellaneous articles complete the exhibition
contained in the memorial cases. These were all loaned by Mrs. Gilman C. Hill.
The Revolutionary and Civil war relics, including bayonets, swords, revolvers,
pistols, cannon balls, canteens, irons, shells and the like, fill several cases. The
valuable collection of pistols, assembled by Pierre C. Cowles, and the collection
of rare swords, presented by H. H. Peck, follow in the cases next to the war
relics. There are examples of stone heads, idols and pottery from Mexico ,->nd
Central America, and weapons, pipes and other modern Indian articles presented
by H. H. Peck. The Cornelius Tracy collection of specimens pertaining to
modem Indian industry offers many interesting examples.
In the miscellaneous collection, there are several articles of close and deep
association to Waterbury people. Among these are the latches from the doors
of St. John's Church, built in 1797, wrought iron nails from th<= Hiram Upson
house in Platts Mills, old tallow candle dips, a collection of historic and political
medals, all of deep interest locally.
In 19 1 6 James Terry of New Haven and Hartford loaned the society his valu-
able Washington collection. This contains, among other articles, the banouet
table used by Washington to entertain his officers after the Battle of Yorktown.
It was bought in 1775 from the Fairfax family and taken to Mount Vernon.
There are also in the collection the sideboard, breakfast table and a porch chair
from Mount Vernon, many broadsides and a considerable quantity of valuable
porcelain. The collection also contains a Thomas Jefferson chair, used by that
statesman at Monticello.
A tablet was erected in 1916 at Sled Haul Brook on the cemetery road in
memory of the first Waterbury settlers.
The tablet to Elisha Leavenworth was placed in the Historical Society Build
ing in 1917.
On November 7, 191 7, the society numbered 960 active members. The honor-
ary membership list is as follows :
Henry Bronson, M. D., New Haven, from June 3, 1878, until his death,
November 26, 1803.
Horace Hotchkiss, Plainfield, New Jersey, from June 3, 1878, until his death,
March 9, 1879.
Elisha Leavenworth, from December 10, 1902, until his death, January 6. 191 t.
Franklin Carter, LL. D., Williamstown, Mass., elected December 14, 1910.
Katherine A. Prichard, elected January 24, 191 2.
Constance G. DuBois, elected October 8, 1913.
The income of the Society, apart from fees paid on admission to membership
and the annual dues, is derived almost entirely from the Leavenworth bequest.
The gift of $to,ooo, conveyed to the society in 1904, had at the time of his death
increased to $15,000. He left by his will $40,000 for the purchase of the land and
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 91
the house which the Society now occupies, and $50,000 for income, and also
made the Society one of the first residuary legatees. The total bequest is placed
at about $175,000.
The present officers of the Society are as follows: President, Arthur Reed
Kimball ; vice presidents, John Prince Elton, Mark Leavenworth Sperry ; secre-
tary, Henry Lincoln Rowland; treasurer, Charles Leland Holmes; curator, Walter
Wetmore Holmes; assistant 'secretary, Lucy Peck Bush; assistant treasurer,
C. Sanford Bull; assistant curator, Lucy Peck Bush; assistant, Catherine W.
Pierce.
Annual directors: Arthur Reed Kimball, John Prince Elton. Henry Lincoln
Rowland, Carl Eugene Munger, Charles Leland Holmes.
Permanent directors: To serve until January, 1919, Charles F. Chapin and
Frederick G. Mason; to serve until January, 1920, Mark L. Sperry and Hugh
L. Thompson; to serve until January, 1921, Harris Whittemore; to serve until
January, 1922, Robert F. Griggs and Nathaniel R. Bronson ; to serve until Janu-
ary, 1923, Wallace H. Camp and Frederick S. Chase.
The membership committee consists of : Frederick G. Mason, chairman ; Wal-
lace H. Camp, Katherine D. Hamilton, Merritt Heminway, Walter Makepeace,
Almira C. Twining.
House committee : Frederick S. Chase, chairman ; Martha R. Driggs, Alice
E. Kingsbury, Hugh L. Thompson, Cornelius Tracy.
Meetings committee : Arthur Reed Kimball, chairman ; Mrs. Frederick S.
Chase, Charles A. Dinsmore, John P. Elton, Edith D. Kingsbury, Mary B. Bur-
rail, Harris Whittemore.
Museum committee : Walter W. Holmes, chairman ; George A. Goss, Cather-
ine H. Grigsrs, Alice E. Kingsbury, Katherine L. Peck, Mrs. Walter D. Make-
peace, Mrs. Nelson A. Pomeroy, Mrs. Augustin A. Crane.
Memorial committee : Edwin S. Hunt, chairman ; Mrs. William F. Chatfield,
Darragh DeLancey, Florentine H. Hayden, Katherine A. Prichard, Anna L.
Ward.'
Finance committee : Robert F. Griggs, Henry L. Rowland.
CHAPTER VII
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION
THREE NOTABLE INDUSTRIAL TRIUMPHS ELIMINATION OF GRADE CROSSINGS EREC-
TION OF THE UNION DEPOT — DOUBLE-TRACKING THE ROADS ENTERING WATERBURY
COST OF IMPROVEMENTS MADE IN A DECADE IN WATERBURY's TERMINALS
RAMIFICATION OF THE TROLLEY SYSTEM ITS GROWTH FROM HORSE CAR LINE TO
THE NETWORK OF PRESENT EXTENSIONS THE GREEN LINE TELEGRAPH, TELE-
PHONE AND EXPRESS.
In the quarter century which is now ending, Waterbury has won by consistent
agitation, by many cheerfully-made concessions, and in several instances by
appeals to the State Railroad Commission, to the Public Utilities Board, and to
the courts, three notable industrial triumphs.
These are the complete elimination of all railroad grade crossings, the build-
ing of a new Union Station with vastly increased yard facilities, and the double-
tracking of the railroad lines entering the city.
The agitation for a Union Station began in 1889. This was a demand not
only for the station, but for the elimination of all grade crossings and separation
of grades on the Naugatuck Division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford
Road. In 1893 an agreement was reached by which the railroad consented to the
construction of "a wooden depot to cost $25,000."
Such was the beginning and such the first concession made to the persistent
appeals of Waterbury's citizens.
At that time, 1893, the act covering the abolition of grade crossings had been
in effect four years, and Waterbury was on the alert to secure its share of these
improvements, for the new law required a reduction of at least one grade cross-
ing each year for every sixty miles of road owned or operated within the state.
In 1909, twenty years after the passage of the act, there remained only six cross-
ings at grade between Naugatuck Junction and Waterbury. Of these, three
were in Milford, two in Derby and Ansonia, and one in Naugatuck. When this
work was completed in 191 1, it was asserted by the state officers that the im-
provements ordered by this law on elimination of grade crossings had cost the
New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad $7,725,304.
In 1898 the city won its first great victory in this contest. The State Rail-
road Commission, in its report for that year, states that "Bank Street, which
formerly crossed the railroad at grade, has been carried under it, in accordance
with a decree of the Superior Court, dated November 14, 1888, made on an
appeal from an order of the State Railroad Commission. This eliminates the
most dangerous grade in the city." This refers to Bank Street at its entrance
into the Brooklyn district.
The victory, which took ten years to gain, had an immediate influence in
effecting a further agreement between the city and the railroad. In that year,
1898, the upper Waterville Road, leading from Waterbury to Waterville, was
carried under the railroad. The City of Waterbury paid one-half the expense
92
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 93
of the change, the highway having heen built since the location and construction
of the railroad.
The trolley catastrophe of November 29, 1907, was a terrible demonstration
of the necessity of the elimination of grade crossings. An Oakville bound trolley
car was completely wrecked by a north-bound freight at the West Main Street
car crossing over the tracks of the 1 [ighland and Naugatuck Division. Five were
killed and twenty-four injured in this wreck. The responsibility for this disaster
was placed on the employees of both the trolley company and the railroads.
In October, 1899. the company and the city agreed on increased protection at
the West Main and Porter Street crossings. Guarded gates were eventually
placed, both at the point where West Main Street crosses the tracks of the Nauga-
tuck Division and at the point where Porter Street crosses the Highland Division.
In 1902, the work of double-tracking the road into Waterbury began. This
task had been completed to a point south of Derby Junction and was now under-
taken for the stretch of road from Derby to Waterbury. On September 16, 1904,
the railroad, at the urgent solicitation of city officers, began the construction of
the viaduct over the Upper Waterville Road at Waterville, thus removing a
dangerous crossing.
In 1906 began the work of double-tracking the stretch of road between
Waterbury and Bristol. In 191 1 this work was completed. It involved the
elimination of all grade crossings between Waterbury and Bristol, the straight-
ening of the line, the construction of a tunnel 3,500 feet long, and the forming
of a continuous double track line between Hartford and Waterbury.
Now. too. came the period of heavier engines and heavier traffic, and a change
in the construction of railroad bridges was imperative. By 1910, practically all
the wooden bridges on the Naugatuck and Highland divisions had been replaced
by steel or thoroughly strengthened. This was no small task, for there were
thirty-two of these wooden bridges between Waterbury and Meriden alone. This
is all steel construction now.
In 1910, the steel bridge built over the Potatuck River, near Sandy Hook
Station, replaced the last wooden bridge existing on the Highland Division west
of Waterbury.
In its report of 1909 on the Union Station improvements, the State Railroad
Commission said : "The Union Passenger Station of Waterbury has been erected
at a cost of $332,000. The expenditure for other improvements in the city of
Waterbury, including the new freight houses, freight yards, additional tracks,
elimination of crossings, purchase of property, etc., up to June 30, 1909, amounted
to $1,623,000, and it is estimated that $150,000 more will be needed to complete
the improvements. The total expense will go over $2,000,000."
For the past three years the improvements made by the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railroad have been largely in the line of extending the yards,
and in the building of industrial trackage.
During the war period, — three years, — the road has built approximately seven
miles of sidings in Waterbury. Fully two miles were constructed for Scovill's,
a mile for the Chase W'orks, and fully half a mile for the American Brass Com-
pany. The extensions to the yards have increased the facilities so that five hun-
dred additional cars can be accommodated.
But the tremendous freight business of the past three years has necessitated
many improvements along the line- leading to Waterbury, in the way of running
side tracks, of extending yards at outlying points, of further strengthening bridges
to carry increased weight of engines.
The merging of the various railroads entering Waterbury into the New York,
94 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
New Haven & Hartford Railroad was nearly complete in 1893. In May, 1887,
the Naugatuck Railroad was leased for ninety-nine years to the New Haven
system at $200,000 a year. In 1875 it had bought the Watertown line from its
trustees.
The New York and New England Railroad was a union of many railroad
companies, which were made a part of one corporation on April 17, 1873. It
owned or leased the Boston, Hartford and Erie Road, the Norwich and Worcester
Railroad, a line of steamers running from Norwich and New London to New
York, and the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Road. In 1881, it opened the
line from Waterbury to Danbury, and in 1882 the line from Danbury to Fish-
kill. It also acquired the railroad running from Hartford to Springfield with its
branches.
Early in 1887 construction of a railroad between Waterbury and the Con-
necticut River, by way of Meriden, was begun. On July 4, 1888, this was
opened. In January, 1889, the railroad had been completed across the city to the
New York and New England line. In 1892 the road passed into the temporary
control of the New York and New England Railroad Company, but merely on a
lease.
When the Meriden Road bonds became due, its operation was stopped and
foreclosure followed. Judge A. Heaton Robertson, of New Haven, purchased
it for $100,000 in 1896. In 1897 Judge Robertson pledged himself to the Legis-
lature that he would resume operations before the next session of the Legislature.
On November 3d, he incorporated it as the Middletown, Meriden & Waterbury
Railroad. The officers were : President, A. Heaton Robertson ; secretary, John
B. Robertson, of New Haven; treasurer, A. Heaton Robertson; directors, Fred-
erick C. Wagner, Henry C. Ely, Wm. H. Clark, all of New York; John L.
Billard, Charles L. Rockwell, H. L. B. Pond, all of Meriden ; Frederick J. Kings-
bury, of Waterbury, and the officers above named. It was officially re-opened on
December 6, 1898, the New Haven road operating it. This arrangement was
later extended and the New Haven road secured control of the line. In 1904
a connection was made with the Northampton Division, near Cheshire, resulting
in the "Cheshire Loop" rail route between Waterbury and New Haven. The
run was made in fifty minutes without change, as against an hour and a quarter
with one change on the route via Derby, and there was a special round-trip rate
of seventy cents, a considerable reduction. Consequently the "Cheshire Loop"
became very popular, but with the opening of the Cheshire trolley to Mount
Carmel, giving a through line to New Haven, business speedily fell off on the
parallel rail route, which was soon abandoned. Thereafter the Meriden branch
ran one mixed train of two cars daily each way between Waterbury and Meriden.
In 1917, war conditions on railroads called for the discontinuance of this train as
unnecessary. The service now is occasional and irregular.
The Meriden branch was built primarily as a freight line to connect Water-
bury and Meriden with tide water at the Connecticut River. While the hopes of
its builders were never realized, the eastern end of the line has proved useful.
It has been electrified between Meriden and Middletown and affords regular
passenger and express service.
On July 1, 1898, the New England Railroad passed into the hands of the
New Haven Railroad, thus ending the only formidable competition the consoli-
dated system ever had.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 95
THE NEW UNION STATION
On July ii, 1909, the new Union Station of the New York, New Haven &
Hartford Railroad was opened to the public. This, with its many improvements
in the way of street openings, elimination of grade crossings hy the new viaduct
and subway track service, was a tremendous advance over old conditions. Water-
hury for years grumbled about the old Bank Street Station of the Naugatuck
Division. This was the successor of the town's first depot, which was erected in
1857. The Bank Street building was opened on January 22, 1868, and was called
'"palatial." It was closed to the public March 29, 1908, and has since been torn
down and the site added to the property of the Waterbury Farrel Foundry and
Machine Co., which has covered it with factory buildings. Temporarily the
public was allowed to purchase tickets in a temporary wooden building near the
West brass mill, off West Main Street, until the tracks were shifted and the
junctions completed.
The station is ample in its requirements for a city of more than 100,000 popu-
lation. Large swinging doors, three in number, admit to the waiting-room from
Meadow Street. This waiting-room is furnished with high-back mission style
seats, the floor is of mosaic tiling, with arched ceilings of tapestry brick.
The ticket office has three large windows with decorative brass scroll facings
and marble counters.
At the north end of the waiting-room are the women's reclining and toilet
rooms, and the men's smoking room and toilets, and a large newsstand for the
Connecticut News Co.
The Western Union Telegraph Co. has the room at the south end of the
waiting-room. Next comes a large restaurant, and beyond that a baggage-room.
The Adams Express Co. is quartered at the north end of the building.
The construction of the new depot and the street changes required to make
effective the new approach had begun in 1906, and in this work the city co-oper-
ated most heartily with the railway officials. Grand Street and Meadow Street
were widened to make an impressive approach to the new station, and at their
junction there was a fill of over fifteen feet, many hundreds of thousands of yards
of material, being used. The city condemned a large number of buildings, some
of the property acquired being used for street widening and station approaches
and the remainder being added to the Bronson Library property, thus creating
Library Park. Some of the structures torn down were the ramshackle buildings
surrounding the Meadow Street Station of the old Highland Division, and these
had long been a public eyesore. Others, however, were substantial and modern
brick wholesale warehouses. The firms occupying these took advantage of the
opportunity to construct new buildings in the West End, near the new elevated
tracks.
The passenger facilities thus provided have proved ample for the city's
growth so far. The freight facilities were early outgrown. Track congestions,
particularly in the winter season, caused great delays in the handling of freight,
and the railroad company was repeatedly put on the defensive and made promise
of further improvements. Its financial conditions caused these to be delayed until
the greatly increased business due to war orders resulted in the autumn and
winter of 1916 in a wholly intolerable freight blockade. As soon as spring came
construction was started on the new freight yard and sidings which it is anticipated
will serve the city for some years to come.
When the Union Station was built, space was provided in the upper stories
for railroad divisional headquarters and the staff of the Western division was
96 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
moved here. This lasted for awhile, but in a subsequent reorganization of the
divisions, the trackage handled from Waterbury was cut down and the city
became headquarters of the Highland Division, consisting of the Old Highland
Division, the Xaugatuck Division and the Meriden branch.
THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE TROLLEY
In 1893, when the Waterbury Traction Company, which from its inception
in 1882 to that time, had been known as "The Waterbury Horse Railroad," asked
for permission to change its motive power to electricity, there was a storm of
protest.
At Hartford, the State Railroad Commission was seriously interfering with
the beginnings of this new mode of street travel. In fact, in its early reports,
dated during this formative period, it absolutely refused to grant any electric
road the right to cross the tracks of a steam road.
The Waterbury Traction Company, however, submitted to the mayor and
the Court of Common Council of Waterbury its plan for changing the motive
power, and a committee of the Court of Common Council submitted a report
recommending the granting of the application upon certain terms and conditions,
including the following conditions :
"Section 6. That said company shall indemnify and save harmless the said
city from all loss, cost, damage or expense of every kind, nature or description
by reason of the operation of its cars in the streets of said city arising or growing
out of the use of electricity as a motive power.
"Section 8. That said Waterbury Traction Company shall pay to the City of
Waterbury, for the use of said city, in the month of January in each year a sum
not exceeding two per cent of its gross receipts, to be determined as follows : —
"The gross receipts for the purpose aforesaid, consist of all fares not exceed-
ing five cents (and five cents of each and every fare exceeding five cents) and
the City of Waterbury at some time during the month of January in each year
shall examine the books of said company and thus ascertain and determine such
gross receipts.
"When and after such time as the net earnings of said company shall exceed
the sum of six per cent on the capital actually invested in said company, in stocks
or bonds, or both, said company shall pay to said city such excess to the amount
of two per cent in the same manner aforesaid.
"If at any time hereafter the statute laws of this state shall make said
company liable to local taxation, the provisions of this section shall be null and
void during such time as said company shall be liable to local taxation and no
part of said receipts shall be paid to said city during such time by reason of
anything herein contained."
This permit is quoted in some detail here, as it later became an important
issue in the city's contest for the collection of its two per cent of earnings.
The capital of the new company was placed at $1,000,000. This stock
increase prepared the way for the absorption of the Connecticut Electric Company
and for the control of the electric lighting of the city.
The power house for the new company was built on Bank Street, as an
extension of the old electric station. Work began March 1, 1894. The first five
electric cars were run July 28, 1894, from the Center to Naugatuck. The West
Main Street line was opened with electric power August 3, 1894, the East Main
Street line on August 22d, and the North Main Street line on September 1st.
The first report of the street railway companies in Connecticut to the State
• ftfJiiiiii
WATERBURY UNION STATION AND APPROACHES FROM LIBRARY PARK
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 97
Railroad Commission was made in 1895. At that time there were in round
numbers 300 miles of street railways within the state, with a stock and
bonded debt of $17,700,000, gross earnings of $2,200,000, operating expenses
of $1,500,000, paying taxes amounting to $76,500, carrying 38,000,000 passengers,
with 250 accidents to persons, 12 of which were fatal.
In 1910 there were 921 miles, with a reported capitalization and debt of
$7< ),ooo,ooo, gross earnings over $8,000,000, operating expenses nearly $5,000,000,
taxes $452,000, passengers carried 151,000,000, with 2,278 casualties to persons,
397 of which were fatal. This gives some conception of the tremendous growth
of the trolley transportation in its first active fifteen years.
In 1 9 16 the total mileage of single track road in Connecticut was 1,543.8.
The total assets of all the street car lines in the state had reached on June 30,
1916, a total of $115,737,721.36. The passenger revenue for the year ending
June 30, 1916, was $15,336,166.41, with a net operating revenue of $5,841,512.05;
taxes to the state for the period, $971,753.53.
The first officers of the Waterbury Traction Company were : D. S. Plume,
president; J. E. Sewell, general manager; J. R. Smith, treasurer; A. M. Young,
secretary.
In the year ended September 30, 1895, the road earned $124,566.92, and
expended $75,948.64, giving it net earnings of $48,618.28. It owned eighteen
closed cars and twenty-six open cars, eight of the latter trailers. Its length was
9.15 miles.
On September 30, 1896, it reported earnings for the year $137,273.69, and
expenses $64,994.91. The electric light department's income for that year was
$105,661.38. The road had seventy-five employees. It was selling tickets at
four cents and ticket fares to Naugatuck at eight cents ; school children were
carried for three cents.
In 1897 it added the Waterville division and owned 12.18 miles of single
main track.
By 1899, the trolley business had come under the closer observation of the
larger interests of the country and one of their first purchases was the Waterbury
and Xorwalk systems. In June, 1899, the transfer was officially made to what
was then known as the Connecticut Lighting and Power Company. Its president
was R. A. Smith of New York. Its directors were R. A. Smith and W. F.
Sheehan of New York, H. G. Runkle of Bloomfield, N. J., A. M. Young of
Branford, Conn., and P. H. Hampson of Brooklyn, N. Y. Thus the Waterbury
traction system passed out of local control in 1899. The company which made
the purchase had been first incorporated on July 2, 1895, as the Gas Supply
Company. On November 2, 1899, it changed its name to the Connecticut Lighting
and Power Company, and on January 10, 1901, the name was again changed to
the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company.
In 1902 this company began its fight for control of the Connecticut field with
the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, which under the
name of the Consolidated Company, was starting on its long line of trolley
purchases. In that year the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company pur-
chased in addition to the Waterbury Traction Company, the Bridgeport Traction
Company, the Shelton Street Railway Company, the Milford Street Railway
Company, the Westport and Saugatuck Street Railway Company, the Derby
Street Railway Company, the Norwalk Tramway Company, the Norwalk Street
Railway Company, the Central Rrailway & Electric Company, the Greenwich
Gas & Electric Lighting Company, the Naugatuck Flectric Light Company, and
the Southington & Plantsville Tramway Company.
Vol. 1—7
98 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Its first contest with the City of Waterbury came during this period when it
applied to the selectmen for an approval of the extension from Oakville to
VVatertown. The consent was given, but with it a proviso demanding the
"removal of all embankments and abutments now situated on the highway under
the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway; the erection of electric arc
lights at those points, and the construction of a new and substantial iron bridge."
This became a famous contest, in which the city was defeated, first of all
by the decision of the state railroad commissioners, and finally in an adverse
decision by the Supreme Court on an appeal by the company from a favorable
decision in the lower courts.
In 1902, the directors of the company were as follows : A. M. Young,
Branford, Conn.; R. A. Smith, New York City; George E. Terry, Waterbury;
Randall Morgan and Walton Clark, both of Philadelphia ; H. G. Runkle, Plain-
field, N. J.; David S. Plume, Waterbury; W. G. Bryan, Waterbury; A. W.
Paige, Bridgeport, and M. J- Warner, Branford, Conn.
Beginning with 1902 reports were consolidated for its entire single main
track length of 151.720 miles. •
In 1904 the road from Waterbury to Cheshire and Mount Carmel was com-
pleted and the mileage in Waterbury was also slightly extended. The work on
the Baldwin Street line began in this year.
On August 1, 1906, the entire holdings of the Connecticut Railway & Lighting
Company were leased to the Consolidated Company, thus passing into the pos-
session of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway. At this time the
total length of main track in Connecticut was 625.307 miles. Of this the two
companies now consolidated controlled 440.419 miles.
The Connecticut Railway & Lighting Company owns 170.987 miles of single
track in Connecticut which is leased to and operated by the Connecticut Company
under a sub-lease dated February 28, 1910, from the Consolidated Railway
Company, by the provisions of which the Connecticut Company assumes all the
obligations and undertakings as to street railways assumed by the Consolidated
Railway Company under its lease of December 19, 1906, from the Connecticut
Railway & Lighting Company. Both the original and the sub-lease expire
August 1, 2005, the rent paid by the Connecticut Company being $1,049,563.50
for the year. The lessee received all the income and profits from the leased
premises and in consideration thereof pays the rental and taxes and maintains
the property in good order and repair.
Two lines which were under construction in 1906, the Waterville and Thomas-
ton line, and the Oakville and Watertown line, were completed in 1907 and became
part of the new system.
On December 19, 1910, the company started to extend the line to Town Plot
from the junction of Bank and James streets, and in 1912 it opened the loop
through Meadow Street passing the Union Station.
In October, 1914, after the drastic action by the Government, the company
and the Department of Justice agreed that the trolley properties among other
holdings should be put into the hands of trustees for management and sale at
the proper time. Under this and a previous order of court, the profits of the
Connecticut Company are turned over to the New York, New Haven & Hartford
in repayment for expenditures made out of its funds or as profits accruing from
the trust holdings.
In March, 1915, the dissolution had proceeded far enough so that the
directors of the New York, New Haven & Hartford were able to inform the
Public Service Commission of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island,
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 99
that in compliance with the decree of the Federal Court, control of the Boston
& Maine, the Rhode Island and Connecticut trolley lines had already been placed
in the hands of trustees.
It was stated by 1 'resident Hadley of Yale, when first made a director of
the Xew York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, that the company had expended
approximately ninety million dollars in the purchase of trolleys during the decade
ended in [913. "As for the trolleys about which so much has been said in
criticism, there was except in the Rhode Island and Berkshire enterprises, little
that could be called recklessness."
One of the most notable trials in the history of the country grew out of the
Government's charge that the directors of the New York, New Haven & Hartford
had conspired to monopolize the common carrier transportation of New England
by acquiring and combining steam railroad, trolley lines and steamship companies.
The trial lasted three months, ending January 9, 1916, in an acquittal of most of
the defendant directors, and in a few instances in a disagreement. The trial is said
to have cost the Government $200,000, and the defendant $575,000.
Howard Elliott, now chairman of the board of directors, in a recent address
at Norwich said that "there is enough value in the great terminals to offset losses
that may be sustained in selling certain of its properties under the decree of the
Federal Court."
In October, 19 14, the United States District Court for the Southern District
of New York placed the trolley system of Connecticut in the hands of five
trustees, with an order to dispose of these properties in two years. This time has
now been further extended.
The present trustees are as follows :
Walter C. Noyes, New York, chairman ; Charles Cheney, South Manchester ;
Leonard M. Daggett, New Haven; Morgan B. Brainard, Hartford; Charles T.
Sanford, Bridgeport.
For the year 1917, the trustees have deemed it wise to declare no dividend.
Waterbury, in August, 1915, after defeat in the courts in its fight to collect
the 2 per cent under the old written agreement with the Waterbury Traction
Company, settled the case on the payment to the city of a lump sum of $75,000.
In July, 1 91 7, the company announced that it would no longer sell trolley
tickets at 4 cents on its Waterbury lines, and later that on October 1, 191 7, it
would charge on all its lines 6 cents where cash fares of 5 cents had been collected
previously. The effort to stop this by injunction failed, as there never had been
a written agreement on rates, and the new fares are now in effect, although
hearings are being held before the Public Utilities Board as to the right of the
company to raise the rate.
In 1899 a corporation known as the Woodbury & Southbury Electric Railway
Company endeavored to secure the right to use the city streets for the operation
of an electric line to suburban points, but this was never pressed to any practical
end. It was, however, the occasion of a long contest with the existing trolley
system.
The trolley connection to Woodbury was not secured until 1908, when the
line was run via Middlebury and past Lake Quassapaug, making this a great
popular summer resort. For years the talk had been that the line to Woodbury
would run through Watertown.
Various plans to connect the terminus of the Watertown trolley line with
Litchfield and Thomaston have been mooted, but never reached the practical stage.
In 1916, the company completed and opened what is popularly known as
the Chase trolley line, proceeding from North Main Street to Waterville via
100 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Perkins Avenue and connecting the North Main Street plants of the Chase inter-
ests with the railroad tracks at Waterville and the Chase Metal Works north of
Waterville.
THE "GREEN" LINE
In 1913, a small group of Waterbury and Southington men started the Water-
bury and Milldale Tramway Company, better known as the "Green" line. This
project had been under way for more than seven years, having originated among
the business men of the Town of Southington, who desired closer connections
with Waterbury. C. H. Clark, the bolt manufacturer of Southington, was the
mainspring behind the project. An appeal being made to the Waterbury Business
Men's Association for co-operation, several of the officers and directors of the
association joined in the petition for the charter. Among them were John R.
Hughes and John H. Cassidy, who was at that time secretary and counsel of the
business men's association. They are still directors of the company and Mr.
Cassidy is its managing director.
The work proceeded slowly owing to the difficulties of construction and of
securing capital, but finally the line was operated first to Mill Plain, then extended
to Hitchcock Lakes, thus making another agreeable summer resort for Waterbury
people, and finally to Milldale, making connections there with the Connecticut
Company's lines to Meriden and Southington. By a traffic agreement the "Green"
line uses the Connecticut Company's tracks in this city from the corner of East
Main Street and the Meriden Road to the Center.
The line extends from Waterbury to Milldale, a distance of 8^2 miles, and now
operates six cars.
Its general manager is John H. Cassidy, and its directors are : Charles H.
Clark, Roswell A. Clark, Richard Elliott, John R. Hughes, and John H. Cassidy.
EXPRESS COMPANIES
The two companies operating in Waterbury under traffic arrangements with
the New York, New Haven & Hartford System are the Adams Express Company
and the American Express Company, both with offices and warehousing arrange-
ments in the Union Station.
The business of these companies after the introduction of the parcel post
was run at first at a heavy loss, amounting in 1913 for the Adams in the State
of Connecticut to $204,598.88, and for the American for the same period in the
state to $281,892.44.
There has now been a complete rehabilitation and adjustment to new condi-
tions, and both companies are doing a profitable business in Waterbury.
The trolley express, established in 1899, ' s one °f tne activities of the
Connecticut Company.
TELEGRAPH COMPANIES
The two telegraph companies, the Western Union and the Postal Telegraph,
have confined themselves during the past twenty-five years to keeping up with
the growth of Waterbury. In the past three years alone the telegraph business
in this city has doubled. The Western Union now has 120 wires, including
trunk lines, running out of its Waterbury offices, while in 1893 ^ na d but three.
It now employs fourteen clerks and operators, where three men did all the work
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 101
in 1893. J ts niost famous manager during this period was W. A. Sawyer, who
is now district commercial superintendent with headquarters in New York. The
present superintendent is A. C. Wardell.
The Postal Telegraph Company has shown a similar growth. At the begin-
ning of the twenty-five year period, it had but two wires; now it has twenty-five
wires running out of the city. Its growth, too, has been continuous. Its present
manager is Margaret M . Hunter.
THE TELEPHONE IN CONNECTICUT
It is now. at the end of 1917, forty years since the telephone was first com-
mercially introduced into Connecticut on a then large scale. Since that time
tremendous expansion of the service has placed the telephone in the forefront of
the most serviceable public utilities. From the little exchange established in the
City of New Haven in January, 1878, the business has grown with rapidity, until
at the present time it is almost impossible to enter even the most remote
farming communities, or sparsely settled districts in the state, without finding a
telephone handy in the event it is needed.
Pioneers in the telephone service in Connecticut agree that what were probable
the first telephones brought into this state made their appearance in the City of
Bridgeport in the latter part of June, 1877. These instruments were brought to
that city for demonstration purposes, as the incident is remembered, and were
presented to the directors of the Hartford Alarm Register Company, with which
Thomas B. Doolittle of Pine Orchard, a pioneer telephone man and famous as the
inventor of hard drawn copper wire, was identified.
Mr. Doolittle was present at the meeting of the directors of the Register Com-
pany when these telephones, four in number, were shown to the directors. He
borrowed two of these old-time telephone sets and showed them to a number
of his business friends in Bridgeport during the next few days. At that time the
study of telegraphy was quite a fad among men of an inventive turn of mind
and several of them, living in Bridgeport, were members of what was called the
Bridgeport Social Telegraph Association. By means of this association, when
one member wished to call another, he would sound that member's call and sign
his own. The operator, hearing this, would so adjust the plugs in the switchboard
that a connecting line was established between the calling and the called stations.
In this way telegraphic communication could be established in much the same way
as a telephone connection is made today.
Brief experiments were carried on by members of the Social Telegraph Asso-
ciation with the old telephone sets and it was proved that the telephone could be
used on this system. The association, through its members, at once adopted the
telephone in place of the telegraph.
At this time tests were made from various stations in the association's service
and conversations were sucessfully carried on as far out as Black Rock, about
four miles from the operator's switchboard. All interest in the telegraph system
was lost and Mr. Doolittle at once began soliciting subscribers for a telephone
system. P. T. Barnum, of circus fame, was the first subscriber signed by Mr.
Doolittle.
A company had been formed in New England to lease instruments and plans
were being made for using them at various points. W. H. Haywood, who was
secretary of the Hartford Register Company, appplied for and secured the
agency of the telephone in Fairfield and New Haven counties. Later Mr. Hay-
wood secured the agency for Hartford and Litchfield counties.
102 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
With the development of the association's service in Bridgeport promising
well, Mr. Doolittle went to New Haven with the object of interesting capital
in that city in the project of establishing a similar association there. It was
through Mr. Doolittle's efforts that the New Haven District Telephone Company
was formed and the preliminaries to the opening of the first commercially oper-
ated telephone exchange were carried out. But, telephone history shows, Mr.
Doolittle was left out of this business arrangement.
David S. Plume of Waterbury played a prominent part in the advancement of
telephony in this state. He was a close friend of Mr. Doolittle and had often
tried to persuade the latter to devote his attention to manufacturing rather
than to the development of the telephone, which was not then regarded as a safe
and sound business enterprise. Finally Mr. Plume sensed the great possibilities
of the telephone and provided financial backing for some of the work Mr. Doolittle
then had in mind.
In November, 1877, a telephone line was built connecting the mill and offices
of the Ansonia Brass and Copper Company. These works adjoined those of
Wallace & Sons, who were also manufacturers of copper wire. Mr. Doolittle
was associated with this enterprise and it was in this work that he acquired
his knowledge of wire drawing which led, some time later, to his invention of
hard drawn copper wire which made possible the modern long distance telephone
service.
At this time Mr. Doolittle was getting along well in the plans for an exchange
in Bridgeport. Then the Western Lmion Telegraph Company entered the tele-
phone field and seemed to direct all its energies toward upsetting Mr. Doolittle's
business plans in that city. It is reliably recorded that Mr. Doolittle was beset
by many difficulties, financial and otherwise, in his efforts to put through his
plans. One hard blow at Mr. Doolittle came through William D. Bishop of
Bridgeport, then president of the New Haven Railroad. He ordered all of the
telephones furnished by Mr. Doolittle taken out of the railroad, steamboat and
express offices. Mr. Bishop, by the way, was a member of the board of directors
of the Western Union Telegraph Company at that time.
The first commercial telephone exchange in the world was opened in New
Haven, January 28, 1878, and the switchboard was located in the Boardman
Building, still standing at State and Chapel streets. A little later an exchange
was opened in Meriden and the switchboard used there was supposed to be an
exact duplicate of the one used in New Haven. By February 28, 1878, the ex-
change in New Haven had grown so that there were fifty subscribers connected
therewith and a list of these subscribers was prepared and printed, this being the
first telephone directory in the world.
The early exchanges were naturally far different from the marvelously
equipped central offices of the present day. The apparatus was crude and the boy
operators not only were untrained, but the quality of their work was lowered by
their desire to experiment with the apparatus which was a great novelty to them.
With the New Haven and the Meriden exchanges operating successfully, the
Bridgeport exchange was soon opened by Mr. Doolittle. Ellis B. Baker, for
many years with the Southern New England Telephone Company, was the man
chiefly instrumental in establishing the exchange at Meriden. At that time Mr.
Baker was but twenty- four years of age.
With these three exchanges finally established and with telephony recognized
as a modern aid to all business enterprises, it was not long before an exchange was
established and in working order in the City of Waterbury. This was the period
of telephone infancy, to be sure, but for an infant it displayed remarkable
WATERBURY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY 103
facilities for proving its real service to the people, in consequence of which,
exchanges were within a few years opened in practically all of the larger cities of
the state. Today every city, town, village and hamlet and the obscure places in
the backwoods of this and every other state are now accorded telephone service.
The first Waterbury office was located in a building in Phoenix Avenue, the
second home being in a building in North Main Street. From there the Waterbury
office was moved to the old site of the Manufacturers' National Bank and then to
the Masonic Building in Bank Street. Later the office was located at 282 Bank
Street, this being the first central office building the Southern New England
Company built in Waterbury. It moved into its new building on Leavenworth
Street in 1914.
From a short list of subscribers, 468 on September 1, 1894, the Waterbury
office is now serving about 8,000 telephones in Waterbury, which is practically
one telephone for every twelve persons in the city. In the past eighteen months
the growth of business at the Waterbury exchange has been remarkably heavy.
The number of local calls originating in Waterbury is shown by the peg count for
October, 191 7, to be 41,000 a day. The outgoing toll calls average about 1,500
each day. This shows an hourly rate of about t,8oo calls every hour each of the
twenty-four hours. It must be borne in mind, however, that during the night this
rate is far from being reached, while in the rush hours of a business day, when
the traffic load is the heaviest, the hourly rate of calls is far in excess of 1,800.
The number of telephones in Waterbury has increased more than 1,500 in the
past eighteen months and the outlook is for a continuation of this heavy demand
for service at this exchange.
A model and modern central office, equipped with the very last word in
switchboard apparatus and with nearly double the number of telephone operators
employed there two years ago, has been built and occupied. It has taxed the
facilities of the company to meet satisfactorily the service demands in Waterbury,
and that this has been done is a forceful testimonial to the wise forethought of
the directing heads of the telephone company.
The process of placing telephone wires underground in iron conduits lined
with cement and laid on cement began in Waterbury in 1894.
The following is the record of total telephone installations September 1, 191 7,
in what is known as the Waterbury district :
Canaan 457
Cornwall 166
Lakeville 4 21
Litchfield 737
Xaugatuck 1,398
Norfolk 349
Thomaston 479
Torrington 2,161
Waterbury 8,163
Watertown .- 5 r 7
Winsted 1,597
Total i6,445
GEORGE WELLS BEACH
George Wells Beach, late president of the Manufacturers' National Bank, ex-
superintendent of the Naugatuck Railroad, president of the S. Y. Beach Paper
104 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Company, of the Manufacturers' Foundry Company, and in many other capacities,
one of the foremost citizens of Waterbury, was born in Humphreysville (now
Seymour), New Haven County, Connecticut, August 18, 1833.
At seventeen he became a railroad clerk in the Seymour office of the company
and it was soon proved that he was to succeed in the railroad business. The fol-
lowing year, 1851, he was promoted to the position of second clerk in the Water-
bury office. From time to time he was sent to different posts, where there was
special need of a responsible person, and in this way he gained wide experience
with railroad work. In 1855 he was made agent in the Naugatuck Station, in 1857
a conductor, and was also put in charge of the general ticket agency. In 1861 he
became the agent at Waterbury and remained in this office for several years. At
the death of Charles Waterbury, in 1868, Mr. Beach was made superintendent in
his place. From 1868 to 1887 he was superintendent of the Naugatuck Railroad,
and, on the lease of that road, in 1887, to the New York, New Haven & Hartford
Road, was appointed division superintendent and filled this resposible position
continuously until he retired in 1902. After 1880 he was successively director, vice
president and president of the Manufacturers' National Bank of Waterbury, and
from 1871 to 1885 he was a director in the Watertown and Waterbury Railroad.
He was an incorporator of the Waterbury Hospital, and one of the executive
committee for fourteen years, and president of the American Society of Railroad
Superintendents for three years.
On his retiring in 1902, after serving as superintendent of the Naugatuck
Division, he made a round trip over the railroad, bidding good-bye to the hundreds
of men who had served under him, all of whom were known to him personally.
The High Rock Grove summer resort was his idea, and he was the first to use
kerosene oil for lighting of passenger cars. This was in i860. The valuable
Arctic rubber shoe was first manufactured upon his suggestion.
In civil, political and ecclesiastical offices, Mr. Beach was as active as he was
in his business capacities, often supplying pulpits in case of illness of pastors. He
was justice, town clerk, a member of the board of education, member of the State
Legislature (1870-71), postmaster of Waterbury in 1867, a deacon in the First
Congregational Church of Waterbury (1873-1906), a promoter of the Christian
Commission for the Civil war, and of the Waterbury Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation, of which he was president for four different terms. He was a member
of the Waterbury Club.
Mr. Beach was twice married, in 1855 to Sarah Upson of Seymour, who died
in January. 1882, and by whom he had two sons. The senior, Henry D., was the
signal engineer of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, the junior,
Edward W., is a manager of the Manufacturers' Foundry Company of Waterbury.
The second marriage was in 1883 to Mrs. Sarah A. Blackall. His home was at 29
Cliff Street, Waterbury. He died March 2, 1906.
When Mr. Beach retired from the New Haven Road in 1902, his position
as superintendent was taken by J. P. Hopson. C. S. Lake and R. D. Fitzmaurice
later succeeded to the position, the latter leaving in 1914, when the present super-
intendent, Mahlon D. Miller, was appointed.
MAHLON D. MILLER
Mahlon D. Miller, at present superintendent of the Highland Division of the
New York, New Haven & Hartford Road, with headquarters at Waterbury, was
born in Pennsylvania and had his first railroading experience in the coal fields of
that state. Later he went to the New York & New England Road, starting as
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 105
telegraph operator, then becoming train dispatcher. With headquarters at Provi-
dence and New London, he was later made train dispatcher-in-chief, and train-
master for the New Haven Road. In June, 1914, he was appointed superintendent
with headquarters at Waterbury.
ALDEN M. YOUNG
Alden M. Young, the first secretary and general manager of the Waterbury
Traction Company, was closely identified with the history of the electric lighting
and electric railway business of Waterbury. He was associated with D. S. Plume,
E. T. Turner, and A. O. Shepardson in the electric companies which were first
organized in 1888. He remained with the Connecticut Railway & Power Company,
becoming its president in 1901 and removing to New York. He was also president
of the New England Engineering Company of Waterbury. He was the first
superintendent and manager of the telephone system in Waterbury, known in its
beginnings as the Automatic Signal Telegraph Company, which was organized
May 2, 1878. He was the inventor of an electric battery which did much to revolu-
tionize the electric business. Mr. Young died at his New York home, December
3. 1911-
OTHER TROLLEY SYSTEM MANAGERS
The first manager of the street car system of Waterbury was Arthur O. Shep-
ardson, who was closely identified with Mr. Turner, Mr. Plume and Mr. Young in
all their electric lighting and power enterprises. He remained as general manager
until 1894, when J. E. Sewell succeeded him. Mr. Sewell was in charge of the
practical end of the traction company's business until 1907, when the first steps
for the sale to the Connecticut Railway & Lighting Company were taken. The
management then was placed in the hands of J. K. Punderford, who is still vice
president and general manager of the trolley system with headquarters at New
Haven. Mr. Sewell later became manager of the Shore Line trolleys operating in
Eastern Connecticut.
The first superintendent of the Waterbury Horse Car Company was Edward
A. Bradley. When the motive power was changed, M. E. Stark became superin-
tendent and remained until 1899, when the present superintendent, Herbert L.
Wales, was appointed.
Herbert L. Wales, the present superintendent of the trolley system in Water-
bury, first came to the company in 1894 as foreman of the repair shop. His first
experience with the trolley was in Portland, Oregon, where he was employed in
1889 on the first electric street car line established in that city. In 1891 he went
to Denver and was in the employ of the Edison General Company. Later he was
employed on electric lines in Boston, Bangor, Maine, and Windsor, Conn., coming
to Waterbury in 1894.
WATERBURY'S TELEPHONE MANAGERS
W. X. Sperry became manager of the telephone company in 1891, when the
work was still experimental, and it was his skill that brought it out of its many
early troubles. He remained with the company until 1905. In that year he was
succeeded by j. D. Yeitch, who remained until 1910. G. F. Kirkham, who suc-
ceeded him, was in office but a few months. W. F. Harper was manager from 1910
to 1913. when his career was suddenly terminated by death in the trolley wreck of
106 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
that year. R. E. Gerth, who succeeded to the post, remained until July 2, 1917,
when the present manager, H. G. Davis, took charge.
Henry G. Davis, present manager of the Southern New England Telephone
Company, was born in Hartford in 1885. His first connection with the telephone
company was as contract agent at Hartford in 1910. He was later made district
control agent for Hartford, and then became special commercial agent for the
Hartford and Waterbury districts. On July 2, 1917, he became manager of the
Waterbury office.
CHAPTER VIII
THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES OF WATERBURY, 1892-1917
THE FIRST CHURCH THE SECOND, THIRD AND HUNKER HILL CHURCH, CONGREGA-
TIONAL ITALIAN CONGREGATIONAL ST. JOHN'S AND TRINITY EPISCOPAL ST.
PAUL'S, WATERVILLE FIRST M . K., GRACE, ST. PAUL'S, SOUTH AND WEST SIDE HILL
M. E. FIRST, SECOND AND GRACE BAPTIST — -GERMAN AND SWEDISH LUTHERAN
CHURCHES ADVENT CHRISTIAN BUCK'S HILL, UNION, WATERVILLE CHAPELS.
The Protestant churches of Waterbury have kept pace with the growth of the
community during the past quarter of a century, meeting its moral and spiritual
needs with a strengthening of old organizations and an infusion of new religious
bodies. This is true of practically every denomination, and it applies as well to
the neighborhoods where the lack of numbers was met by union organizations, all
of which are prospering and spreading the influence of the gospel in their limited
circles.
This short period of time has witnessed the dedication of several of the largest
Protestant churches in the city, including the magnificent house of worship on
West Mam Street occupied by the Second Congregational Church. This was dedi-
cated in June, 1898. In January of the same year the Third Congregational
Church, on Washington Avenue, was opened for worship. In October, 191 7, the
First Baptist Church opened its fine house of worship on Grove Street. In the
review which follows, it will be interesting to note the great number of smaller
churches which have risen to meet local needs in Waterbury, and the territory
immediately tributary. The immediate future promises the erection of several
additional houses of worship, the funds in several instances being on hand and
awaiting only more favorable building conditions.
THE FIRST CHURCH, CONGREGATIONAL
The First Church, Congregational, of W r aterbury, which was founded in 1691,
225 years ago, and which is the mother church to practically all of the surround-
ing Congregational churches, has had its notable history written by its late pastor,
Rev. Joseph Anderson, D. D., covering the period up to 1896. Doctor Anderson
remained interested in the work of the church until his death, August 18, 1916.
He resigned the active pastorate in February, 1905, after forty years of service,
but remained as pastor emeritus until his death. During this period his energies
were largely given to literary work, although he supplied the pulpit in the absence
of the pastor, and took a deep interest in the work of the church, attending services
regularly until illness made this impossible.
Among the many tributes paid the late Doctor Anderson, the following from
the eulogy by his successor, Rev. Charles A. Dinsmore, D. D., gives fitting testi-
mony to the extent of his learning and the scope of his activities: "His mind re-
acted in the presence of nearly every subject of thought. Nothing in heaven or
earth seemed uninteresting to him. His eager mind ranged easily over an incredible
number of fields of knowledge, — Indian lore. New England history, the cutting
107
108 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
of gems, the structure of a sonnet, oriental antiquities, Greek philosophy, the Cal-
vinistic theology, — upon them all he could converse with precise information and
lively interest." As a writer, Doctor Anderson is perhaps most widely known
through the "History of the Town and City of Waterbury," of which he wrote so
great a part.
In 1892 the First Church had a membership of 427. In September, 19 17, this
membership was 570. Its pastor is Rev. Charles A. Dinsmore, D. D., who suc-
ceeded Doctor Anderson January 25, 1895. He came from Phillips Church, of
South Boston.
Rev. Charles A. Dinsmore, D. D., pastor of the First Church, Congregational,
of Waterbury, is a graduate of Dartmouth, which college honored him in June,
1905, with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. After graduating at the Yale
Divinity School, he accepted his first pastorate, at Whitneyville, and then he was
called to Willimantic.
It was in Willimantic that his success became remarkable. His predecessor as
pastor of the Congregational Church there, the Rev. S. R. Free, had gradually
been absorbing the Unitarian principles, which developed in his preaching and
which caused more or less feeling against him on the part of a portion of the con-
gregation. Two hostile factions immediately sprang up and the church was in a
dubious condition until Mr. Free publicly embraced Unitarianism and resigned as
pastor of the Congregational Church. Not content with this, he immediately
started a new church, to be conducted in accordance with his new beliefs. With
him went a considerable portion of those who had formerly been strong members
of his other church. This blow was a very severe one to the Congregational
Church, and the governing body was in a dilemma when it decided to extend a
call to Mr. Dinsmore, who had been doing excellent work in Whitneyville.
The choice proved to be the best that the church could have made. From the
first there was an increment of interest. New members were quickly added and
the majority of those who had followed the fortunes of Mr. Free came back into
the old fold again.
From Willimantic he was called to the Phillips Congregational Church, of
South Boston, where he remained for ten years. Here he duplicated his success
in Willimantic, although he was not confronted with the apparently hopeless con-
dition encountered in the Connecticut town.
He is a man of literary note and ability, having written several books, two on
Dante having brought him into considerable prominence. One is an independent
study of the man, the other a text book which is used in Amherst and other col-
leges. His first book on Dante was published in "The Atlantic" in serial form,
and attracted widespread attention, being criticised both here and in England. He
is regarded as one of the most successful and popular interpreters of Dante at the
present day.
The most notable event in the history of the church during the past quarter of a
century was the celebration of its 225th anniversary on August 25, 1916. On that
date it was decided to raise a memorial fund of $10,000, which finally amounted
to $12,000. This is being devoted to the placing of a memorial window to Dr.
Joseph Anderson, to the erection of tablets in memory of the pastors of the church
during the last century, and to the rebuilding of the church organ.
Another notable anniversary was the centennial of the Sunday school, Mid-
week Prayer Meeting, and Benevolent Society of the First Church, which was
celebrated April 25, 191 7. It is interesting to note that four of the members
present at that time were active in the society in 1875. These were Miss Kath-
erine L. Peck, Miss Katherine A. Prichard, Miss Emily A. Shannon and Mrs.
Harriet Riley.
first ch>xi;ki-:gatioxal church and y. m. c. a. building, waterbury
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER'S CHURCH AND RECTORY, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 109
On January 22, 1907, over one hundred members organized the Men's League
of the First Church.- Mr. Carl 1\ Chapin was elected president of the organiza-
tion in May, 191 7.
Notable among recent gifts to the Church was the erection by J. Hobart Bron-
son of a recreation house on the church grounds. This is for use by the Camp
Fire Girls and the Boy Scouts of the church.
On January 25, 191 7, for the first time in the history of the old First Church,
women attended the annual meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society as members, join-
ing with the men in passing votes having to do with the finances of the church
and the election of its officers. The word "male" had by vote of the men been
stricken from its by-laws.
The following are the officers of the First Church, elected at the annual meet-
ing in 1917: Frederick B. Hoadley, its treasurer, has held that office since 1868,
with the exception of two years, during which time he was absent from the city.
Clerk of the church, George H. Peck.
Treasurer of the church and treasurer of the weekly offering, Frederick B.
Hoadley.
Deacons of the church : Frederick B. Hoadley, Alexander Dallas, Horace G.
Hoadley, Edgar S. Lincoln, Edward W. Goodenough, George E. Camp, Arthur
F. Ells, Albert F. Sherwood, Darragh DeLancey, W. Gamaliel Bailey, Albert N.
Colegrove, Charles Allen Goddard.
Advisory committee: Charles Allen Goddard, Miss Katherine Hamilton, Mrs.
Dudley B. Deming, Mrs. Rowland Jenner, Mrs. Samuel R. Kelsey, Mrs. George
Ells, Alden Merrill, Miss Elizabeth Hall, Mrs. Charles R. Vaill, Mrs. R. William
Hampson, R. Lester Wilcox.
Society's committee : Darragh DeLancey, chairman ; George E. Camp, Edwin
C. Northrop, Hugh L. Thompson, Herbert S. Rowland, Henry A. Hoadley, Pier-
son R. dimming.
Abbie M. Allyn, assistant to the pastor.
THE SECOND CHURCH, CONGREGATIONAL
The Second Church, Congregational, of Waterbury, a daughter of the First
Church, came into being as the result of action taken by the Ecclesiastical Society
of the First Church on February 10, 1851. The pastors have been as follows:
Rev. Seagrove W. Magill, D. D., 1852-1864; Rev. Elisha Whittlesey, 1864-1870;
Rev. Edward G. Beckwith, D. D., 1871-1881 ; Rev. John Gaylord Davenport, D. D.,
the present pastor emeritus, 1881-1911; Rev. Robert Elliott Brown, 191 1. The
assistant pastors have been Rev. Frank C. Baker, Rev. Frederick M. Hollister,
Rev. Louis H. Holden, Ph. D., Rev. M. DeWitt Williams, Rev. W. Moreton Owen.
The first house of worship was on North Main Street, where the Odd Fellows'
Temple now stands. The present edifice, at the corner of West Main Street and
Holmes Avenue, was dedicated June 26, 1895, its cost being $160,000. During
Doctor Davenport's pastorate, the second service was removed from afternoon to
evening, the communion service brought into the forenoon, responsive readings
and other enrichments of the services introduced, individual communion cups
adopted, and the Christian Endeavor Society and many other organizations were
formed. From 1881 to 1 191 1, the membership of the church grew from 558 to
T.147.
During Mr. Brown's pastorate, the women's work has been re-organized, many
new societies have been launched, the benevolences increased from $4,000 to $8,725
in a year, and acousticons have been installed. In the summer of 191 7 the audi-
110 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
torium was thoroughly re-decorated, and plans were also drawn for a parish house,
and additions to the building. Over eighty thousand dollars have been subscribed
towards its cost, the first pledge of $25,000 (conditional upon the securing of
$75,000 additional) being given by Deacon Aaron A. Benedict. The membership
January 1, 19 17, despite the growth of outlying churches, was 1,240.
During all of the church's history, most efficient service has been rendered by
the Ecclesiastical Society having in charge the current expenses. The Second
Church, directly and indirectly, has exerted a deep influence for community better-
ment as well as for world-wide Christianity. Within recent years it has brought
to the city an extraordinarily strong array of speakers upon civic, economic and
national issues. At present the church has flourishing organizations for men,
women, young women, young people, boys and girls, and a progressive Sunday
school.
The officers of the church in 1917 are as follows: Pastor emeritus, Rev. John
G. Davenport, D. D. ; pastor, Rev. Robert E. Brown ; assistant pastor, Rev. W.
Moreton Owen ; clerk, Roys L. Spencer ; treasurer, J. A. Boyd ; society's clerk,
G. E. Judd ; society's treasurer and collector, A. J. Blakesley ; organist and choir
director, Harris S. Bartlett.
Rev. Robert Elliott Brown, pastor of the Second Church, Congregational, of
Waterbury, was born in Middleville, Ontario, Canada, on December 17, 1873. He
was educated in the public schools of Washington, to which State his parents had
removed. In 1901 he graduated from Oberlin College, Ohio, later going to the
Yale Divinity School, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. On
June 23, 1904, he married Miss Mabel A. Millikan, of Chicago, and in the same
year was ordained a Congregational minister.
From 1904 to 1910 he was pastor of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, Fair
Haven. In December, 1910, he became associate pastor in the Second Church,
Congregational, of Waterbury, and on April 1st, when Doctor Davenport was
made pastor emeritus, he became pastor of the church. In 1917 his congregation
granted him a six months' leave of absence for work in France, which task he is
now fulfilling.
THE THIRD CHURCH, CONGREGATIONAL
On the evening of February 5, 1892, at the prayer meetings of the First and
Second Congregational churches of Waterbury, a joint committee was appointed
on the condition and needs of that section of Waterbury known as Brooklyn and
Town Plot, to advise with Mr. Waters with reference thereto, and to take such
action "as the committee shall judge expedient." This committee was composed
of the following: First Church, S. W. Chapman, Gordon Clark, L. G. Day, R. R.
Stannard, R. C. Partree, William C. Scott, Thomas B. Walker ; Second Church,
B. G. Bryan, James Callan, Fred Chapman, F. J. Mix, John Henderson, Jr., Wil-
liam Morgan, James Stewart.
On March 28, 1892, at a meeting of the joint committee, "it was voted that a
temporary chairman and clerk be appointed, who shall warn a meeting according
to law, to be held in the basement of the Bank Street Schoolhouse, for the purpose
of organizing a Third Congregational Church." Rev. F. P. Waters was appointed
temporary chairman and S. W. Chapman temporary clerk of the proposed meeting.
At a meeting, held April 26, 1892, in the Bank Street Schoolhouse, the follow-
ing resolution was adopted :
"That we, the members of the Third Congregational Church of Waterbury, do
now organize as a corporation under the laws of the State ; that a certificate of our
skcoxd (<>\<;i;k<;atioxal church, watkrbury
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 111
action be duly made and signed by tbe officers of this church." At the same meet-
ing the following building committee was appointed : Rev. F. P. Waters, John
Henderson, Jr., James Callan, Mrs. Ida Chapman, Belle C. Walker. The Third
Church was recognized by other churches at a council duly called. At the annual
meeting, January 4, 1895, it was voted that the building committee be instructed
to turn over the church building to the legal committee.
During the history of the church, the following pastors have served it: Rev.
F. P. Waters, November 1, 1891 -July 1, 1897; Rev. Charles E. Granger, May 1,
1898-February 1, 1902; Rev. Benjamin F. Root, March 1, 1902-February 21, 1906;
Rev. H. deHart Gulick, March 1, 1906-April 24, 1908, and Rev. Clay Dent Chunn,
April 24, 1908-April 30, 1913. On August 17, 1913, Rev. Leslie H. Perdriau sup-
plied the pulpit, and on September 14, 1913, was called to the pastorate. Mr.
Perdriau is still pastor (191 7).
The notable events of the present pastorate have been the organization of a
successful Men's Brotherhood, which has provided a gathering place and service
for the men of the community, both helpful and social. The annual banquets have
been the great events of the church year.
The Women's Get-Together Club is doing for the women of the community
what the Men's Brotherhood has so well accomplished.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the church was celebrated on April 22-23,
191 7. The anniversary address was made by Rev. Philip C. Walcott of Nauga-
tuck, on Sunday, April 22d. The general social events followed on Monday, April
23, 1917. The officers of the church for 1917 are as follows:
Pastor, Rev. Leslie H. Perdriau ; clerk, Fred Jackson ; treasurer, Arthur L.
Edmond ; superintendent of Sunday school, William Broughton.
BUNKER HILL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
The Bunker Hill Congregational Church has been in existence as a chapel and
regularly organized church for twenty-five years. It was established by members
of the older organizations, who felt the need of a church near their homes, in the
Bunker Hill district. On June 24, 1905, it was established as a separate church
and took its present name. Its first minister Avas Rev. Ira T. Hawk, who is now
chaplain of the Iowa State Penitentiary. Rev. C. W. Fisher succeeded him and
served his congregation for five years. Rev. Milton Wittier, the present pastor,
succeeded him.
The membership of the church is close to two hundred and the need of a new
house of worship has long been apparent. The site for this has been selected,
and as soon as building conditions warrant, a fund already in existence will be
used for the new edifice. It is probable that the year 191 8 will see it erected and
dedicated.
The officers of the church are as follows : Clerk, Eugene Rogers ; deacons,
Messrs. Young, Thomas and Clapp ; treasurer, William L. Piatt.
ITALIAN CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Largely through the efforts of its present pastor, Dr. Pasquale Codella, the
Italian Congregational Church was organized December 6, 1904. Its services
are held in the Second Congregational Church on Sunday afternoons. The mem-
bership is now over two hundred, with over one hundred in attendance at the
Sunday school. Dr. Codella, the pastor, came to America in 1901 and was ordained
a Congregational minister in 1904. He was born in Calitri, Italy, July 1, 1868, and
112 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
is a graduate of the Salerno Musical College of Italy. The officers of the church
are as follows :
Clerk, Pietro Dello Russo; treasurer, Rev. Robert E. Brown, D. D. ; superin-
tendent of Sunday school, Mrs. Loretta Codella ; organist, Lucy Codella.
st. john's episcopal church
St. John's Episcopal Church of Waterbury, established in 1737, is the mother
church of Trinity Church and of St. Paul's, Waterville, and more recently, Decem-
ber 17, 1916, the organizer of All Souls' Church.
Its influence throughout its long, eventful career has not been confined to its
own membership, but has been felt in every effort of community uplift which has
marked the nearly two centuries of its existence. Thus, for example, through its
present rector, Rev. John N. Lewis, Jr., it established the Waterbury Visiting
Nurses' Association, now a distinct organization, but in its earlier days sponsored
entirely by St. John's.
The present parish house on Leavenworth Street was erected in the early '90s
of the last century.
Rev. John N. Lewis, Jr., present rector, came to the church in September, 1900,
as associate to the Rev. Edmund Rowland, becoming rector in August, 1901.
Prior to that, he had been curate at St. George's, New York, rector of Grace
Church, Honesdale, Pa., and dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, Ky.
The vicar at All Souls' Chapel is Rev. Roscoe C. Hatch. The first assistant to
Rev. John N. Lewis, Jr., was the Rev. Morton A. Barnes, who left in 1905. Later
assistants were Rev. Jacob Albert Biddle, Rev. Royce R. Miller, and Rev. Charles
Taber Hall.
The Diocesan Convention was held in Waterbury under the auspices of the
local Episcopal churches in 1897. In 1892, Rev. Dr. Rowland decided to introduce
an entire male choir, the soprano and alto being carried by boys' voices, and all
the choir uniformly dressed in cassock and collar. In January, 1893, the parish
received from H. H. Peck the gift of a chancel organ. This organ, built by Far-
rand & Votey, was placed in the north gallery with a console in front of the chan-
cel, stalls being placed there for the choir. Joseph E. Bartlett, as organist, took
charge of the music. He was succeeded by William H. Minor, who is still in
charge.
On April 19, 1897, the church property at Waterville was formally conveyed
to St. Paul's Parish.
On April 8, 1901, Doctor Rowland was formally elected Pastor Emeritus.
Nelson Jones Welton, who had been senior warden for twenty-five years, died
in June, 191 7. He was succeeded as senior warden by John P. Elton.
The vestrymen of St. Tohn's are : H. B. Snow, R. G. Hannegan, W. E. Ful-
ton, H. S. White, J. M. Burrall, E. O. Goss, H. H. Peck, H. L. Rowland, J. P.
Kellogg, F. S. Chase, James Crompton, J. E. Kennaugh.
The other officers for 191 7 are as follows: Rector, Rev. J. N. Lewis, Jr.;
clerk, Charles F. Mitchell ; treasurer, Edwin S. Hunt ; secretary, Giles R. Ander-
son ; senior warden, John P. Elton ; organist and choirmaster, W. H. Minor.
The Rev. Edmund Rowland, D. D., former rector of St. John's Episcopal
Church and Rector Emeritus from 1901 to the date of his death, March 22, 1908,
was born in Springfield, Mass., March 24, 1835, and entered Harvard with the
class of 1857. He later went to Trinity, from which college he graduated. In
1882 his Alma Mater gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He studied
theology under Bishop Williams in the Berkeley Divinity School, and was or-
dained to the priesthood in 1862 by Bishop Lloratio Potter.
REV. F. D. BUCKLEY
or twenty-five years rector of Trinity Church, Waterbury
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 113
He married Miss Sarah Belknap of Hartford. He was minister in charge of
the American Church in Rome for some time, later returning and becoming rector
of Bethesda Church, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. He was rector in turn of St. James'
Church, Goshen, N. Y., Grace Church, New Bedford, Mass., and from there went
to Calvary Church. Cincinnati. He became rector of St. John's Parish, Water-
bury, in 1884.
Doctor Rowland was first to suggest the formation of the Waterbury Hospital
Association. He was foremost in all the great moral movements that gave Water-
bury its rank among the best cities in the country.
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Trinity Church, which was set off as a parish from St. John's Episcopal Church
on Trinity Sunday, 1877, is therefore celebrating its fortieth anniversary this
year. On October 1st this event was given added significance by the celebration
of the twenty-fifth anniversary as rector of the incumbent, Rev. Frederick D.
Buckle}-, who officiated for the first time in the pulpit of Trinity on October 1,
1892. The Rev. Frederick Dashiels Buckley was born at Fishkill, N. Y., in 1855.
He studied theology at the Berkeley Divinity School, was ordained dean June 1,
1887, and priest March 23, 1888. He was rector of Grace Church, Stafford
Springs, from 1887 to 1889, and of St. Andrew's Church, St. Johnsbury, Vt,
from 1889 to 1892.
During his pastorate the church has grown in membership and has greatly
increased its beneficent activities.
The parish house, which was built in 1900, was dedicated by the bishop of
the diocese May 24, 1902. In that year also the present rectory, adjoining the
church, was added to the church property. The old rector}- on North Willow
Street was the probable site of the birthplace of Rev. James Scovill, the first
resident rector of the Episcopal Church in Waterbury.
On Trinity Sunday, 1907, the occasion of the church's thirtieth anniversary,
an endowment fund of $10,000.00 was raised. This is now over $26,000.00.
During the summer of 1914 extensive changes were made in the church.
These consisted in the construction of an organ chamber on the north side of the
church and the installing of a new organ.
Sidney Webber, the present organist, assumed that position in May, 1914,
and organized the first boy choir, which sang for the first time on June 7, 1914.
At the Easter meeting in 1903, Rev. Dr. Francis T. Russell, who from the
inception of the parish had been closely connected with it. resigned as assistant
pastor. He died in February, 1910. Rev. Dr. Richard B. Micou, the first rector
of the parish, passed away in June, 191 2.
Trinity Church is rich in its beautiful memorial windows. The last of these to
be placed is that in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Lamb and their son,
Richard. The subject of this is The Annunciation, after Hoffman's painting.
A chancel window in memory of Samuel W. Hall was contributed by the
ladies of the parish.
In 1901 a beautiful memorial window was unveiled to the memory of Edward
Daniel Steele.
Societies for carrying on the institutional work of the parish are: Altar
Guild, Babies' Branch of Junior Auxiliary, Junior Auxiliary, Young Women's
Guild, Girls' Calisthenic Club, Boys' Club. Women's Missionary Society, St.
Elizabeth's ( mild, Parish Sewing School. Elocution Class, and Sight Singing
Class.
Vol. 1—8
114 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The officers of the church elected in iQi/ are as follows: Senior warden,
J. K. Smith; junior warden, H. M. Steele; clerk, C. F. Davis; treasurer, E. H.
Perry; vestrymen, Geo. E. Boyd, Dr. F. E. Castle, F. S. Gorham, E. H. Horn,
F. L. Nuhn, C. J. Pierpont, R. D. Pierpont, H. S. Root, E. K. Samson, C.
A. Templeton, G. H. Wayne, F. B. Williams.
st. paul's episcopal church, waterville
About the time the Rev. John M. McCracken became assistant at St. John's
Episcopal Church, there was a revival of business in Waterville and the mission
which had been established in 185 1 gained in members and became quite active
in its church work. It flourished under his care and a parish hall was built and
opened. Mr. McCracken started a movement to have the mission organized
into a parish, but resigned before this was accomplished. Flis successor at St.
John's, the Rev. H. N. Tragitt, became the first rector of St. Paul's and the
parish was organized and received into union with the Diocesan Convention,
June, 1895. The first wardens were Louis Gates and E. E. Bacon, Harry O.
Miller being the first elected delegate to convention. During Mr. Tragitt's
rectorate the Parish Society and Young People's Association were organized,
both of which societies have contributed in great measure to the development of
the parish and are active in good works at the present time.
In 1898 Mr. Tragitt resigned and was succeeded by the Rev. W. A. Rafter.
Mr. Rafter stayed only two years. His successor was the Rev. C. W. Bentham.
For a few years the parish languished, and in January, 1902, the bishop sent Mr.
J. Attwood Stansfield, a student from the General Theological Seminary, to
assume direction of its affairs. The following Easter the parish requested Mr.
Stansfield to take charge, and when he was ordained he was elected minister-in-
charge. In April, 1897, the mother parish, St. John's, gave a deed of the church
and lot to St. Paul's. The manufacturing interests of the village have prospered
and the parish has kept pace with the growth of the village.
The present rectory was built about five years ago, during the incumbency of
Rev. Wm. P. Waterbury. In February, 191 5, he was suceeded by Rev. Geo. W.
Griffith, the present rector. The officials for 1917 are as follows:
Rector, Rev. George W. Griffith, D. D. ; wardens, Williams A. Faber, Homer
C. Senior; parish clerk, Charles H. Draper; treasurer, Homer C. Senior.
FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF WATERBURY
One of the most notable events in the recent church history of Waterbury was
the Centennial celebration of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. This began
Sunday, October 17, 191 5, and continued throughout the week. The anniversary
address was delivered by Rev. Elmer A. Dent, D. D. A notable feature of the
celebration was the presence of four of its former pastors.
The history of the church for the past quarter century knits it closely into
the great work of Methodism all over the country. It has been especially active
in its work in missionary fields, its Woman's Home Mission Society, its Woman's
Foreign Missionary Society, its Queen Esther Circle and its Ladies' Aid Society
being classed as the most active among kindred organizations in New England
The membership of the church April 1, 191 7, was 1,040.
Since September 20, 1896, Ariel Chapter of the Epworth League No. 19,025,
has been a constituent part of the church, with a membership approximating 300.
The Sunday School has grown with the church. On March 26, 1893, this
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 115
great branch of the local church celebrated its sixtieth anniversary, and a notable
feature of that event was the presence of one teacher, Mrs. Julia A. Pritchard,
and one scholar, Mrs. Jeanette Cow ell, the only survivors of the original organ-
ization.
During the existence of the Sunday School, now over a century, there have
been but nine superintendents. Those of the past twenty-five years were Fred-
erick Gillmore, Elmer J. Bassford, Whitman W. Bowers and John A. Coe, Jr.
\t the time the congregation moved into the Easl .Main Street Church, the
Sunday School numbered 208. Today it is rapidly nearing the 1,400 mark. This
includes teachers, officers, scholars. The average attendance is over 500.
The ministers during the past quarter of a century were Rev. Wm. H. Barton,
[892-3; Rev. Gardner S. Eldridge, 1.894-1898; Rev. F. Watson Hannon, 1898-
1901 ; Rev. F. P. Tower, 1901-02; Rev. F. B. Stockdale, 1902-1905; Rev. F.
Dunwell Walter, 1905-1909; Rev. James E. Holmes, 1909-1911; Rev. Charles E.
Barto, 1911-1914; Rev. Walter E. Thompson, 1914-1916; Rev. A. F. Campbell,
1916.
The officers of the church at present are : Pastor, Rev. A. F. Campbell ; secre-
tary, William L. Woodruff; treasurer, John W. Potter; superintendent of Sunday
School, John A. Coe, Jr.
GRACE M. E. CHURCH, WATERVILLE
Grace Methodist Episcopal Church of Waterville, though small, has been
classed in recent years as one of the most active churches in the district. Since
its separation from the First M. E. Church in 1882, it has organized activities
along the splendid lines of the mother church and has contributed liberally to
all Methodist activities.
This year it mourns the death of Rev. J. J. Moffatt, who was its first pastor,
and who later again served the congregation.
In 1896 the Sunday School addition and the present parsonage were erected.
In 1909, during the pastorate of the Rev. Otto Brand, now field secretary of
the Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, the entire church indebtedness was wiped
out. In 191 2 the land at the rear of the present house of worship was donated
and will be used later for additional church buildings.
At present its membership is 115, with nearly an equal attendance at Sunday
School.
The pastors of Grace Church in the past quarter century have been Rev. A. H.
White, Rev. X. W. Wilder. Rev. W. J. Judd, Rev. A. L. Hubbard. Rev. H. O.
Trinkus, Rev. J. J. Moffatt, Rev. F. L. Buckwalter, Rev. X. F. Honald. Rev.
Otto Brand, Rev. Samuel Johnson, Rev. E. S. Belden, and the present incumbent,
Rev. Ceo. W. Servis, who began his pastorate in August. 1916.
The present officers of the church are: Pastor, Rev. Geo. W. Servis; secre-
tary. F. \V. Wightman; treasurer, James Gift: superintendent of Sunday School,
Roy Ferris.
st. paul's methodist episcopal church
St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, 101 Fast Farm Street, celebrated
its twenty-fifth anniversary in [913. In 191 1 the Sunday School, which had been
organized two years prior to the establishment of the church, celebrated its
quarter centennial.
On April 1, 1917. the membership was 372. It- present pastor, Rev. Charles
116 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
E. Benedict, came to the church in April, 191 5, succeeding Rev. A. J. Smith, dur-
ing whose pastorate the new pipe organ was installed. Other pastors of the last
quarter century are Rev. Geo. A. Brunson, Rev. E. D. Bassett, who was with the
church seven years, Rev. C. Lepley, and the Rev. J. P. Wagner, who died during
the present year.
The new parsonage next to the church on East Farm Street was erected during
the last decade.
The present officers of the church are as follows : Pastor, Rev. Charles E. .
Benedict ; secretary, Elmer L. Hough ; treasurer, Albert J. Smith ; superintendent
of Sunday School, Robert Buik.
SOUTH M. E. AND WEST SIDE HILL CHURCHES
The South M. E. Church, at 1338 Baldwin Street, had on April 1, 1917, a
membership of 213, but this has been slightly reduced during the year by the
establishment of a sister church, the West Side Hill, of which the need has long
been apparent. For some time Rev. R. F. Shinn has been in charge of a mission
at that point, which now has developed into a separate church, with Rev. R. F.
Shinn as its first pastor. It has taken over the mission property.
The Rev. W. J. Ashforth is the pastor of the South M. E. Church. Other
officers of this church for the year 1917 are as follows: Recording secretary,
William A. Houston ; financial secretary, Walter A. Rose ; treasurer and Sunday
School superintendent, Myron Hutch.
MOUNT OLIVE A. M. E. ZION CHURCH OF WATERBURY
In 1904 Mount Olive A. M. E. Zion Church celebrated the quarter century
of its establishment, with the building of its new church at 86 Pearl Street. Its
membership has shown a steady growth, being close to 150 in 1917, with a Sunday
School attendance of about 140.
The church has taken a prominent part in the national work of the African
Methodist Episcopal denomination. This has been particularly true during the
present pastorate, that of the Rev. J. W. McDonald, now going on its fourth year,
and of his predecessors, the Revs. J. S. Cole, H. M. Mickings, Calvin S. Whitted,
Fisher and McCallum.
The officers of the church in 1917 are: Pastor, J. W. McDonald; secretary,
Willis W. Holland ; treasurer, R. L. Brinkley.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WATERBURY
Two events of transcendent importance in the history of the First Baptist
Church of Waterbury during the past twenty-five years are, first, its centennial
celebration in 1904, and, second, the dedication in the fall of 1917 of its mag-
nificent new church building, at the corner of Grove Street and Central Avenue,
which has just been completed.
The centennial celebration began November 1, 1904, on which day the
sermons, both morning and evening, were delivered by the pastor. Rev. Oscar
Haywood, D. D. On Monday, November 2d, the joint meeting of the Baptist
Ministers' Conference of New Haven and Hartford, and the Protestant Ministers'
Club of Waterbury were held.
In the evening of that day a memorable address on "The Best Way of Van-
quishing" was delivered by the Rev. Wayland Hoyt, D. D., LL. D., of Phila-
tf
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WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK \ ALLEY 117
delphia, before the Society of Christian Endeavor. On Tuesday, Woman's Day,
Doctor Hoyt spoke on "Soul Worship."
Wednesday was Missionary Day, with the address by Rev. Albert Arnold
Bennett, D. D., of Japan.
On Thursday, Old Home Day, an address was delivered by Rev. P. G.
Wightman and the First Church took part for the first time in the conference of
the Centennial Churches of the New Haven Association. This conference com-
prised, in addition to Waterbury, Meriden, 1786; Middletown, 1795; Southington,
1738; Cromwell, 1802; Clinton, 1797; Winthrop, 1744, and Wallingford, 1790.
Later in the day addresses were delivered by Prof. D. G. Porter and Rev.
T. A. T. Hanna.
It was in 1897 that the women of the church began the great work of co-
ordinating their denominational labors. The women of the church thought they
could do better work if all the lines, viz. : social, parish, and missionary, were
brought under one organization.
On April 20, 1898, they decided to make this change, and formed the Mission-
ary and Social Union of the First Baptist Church of Waterbury. In this new
departure, they were largely assisted by the wise counsel of the late Doctor Parry.
The society embraces all of the women's distinctive work, and aims to include
in its membership every woman of the church. It has three departments : Parish
Work. Home Missions, and Foreign Missions. It has a chairman in charge of
each line of its work. Thursday of each week is its "At Home" day, two hostesses
being in charge of the parlor all day, while all women's meetings are scheduled
to appear at some specified hour. k
A. D. Field, a man of affairs and of large experience in the management and
control of finances, devised, during the year 1901, a plan of endowment for the
church known as "The Surplus Fund." It is incorporated under the laws of
Connecticut, and no investment as a public benefaction could be more diligently
safeguarded by legal enactment. In the year 1901 $1,000 was contributed by
members of the church to this fund, — that amount being required by the articles
of incorporation before the fund could be established. It is more especially
designed to afford security for money and property which may be given to the
church through wills and deeds of gift.
It is a perpetual endowment, of which the trustees are custodians, under bond
in the amount of the market value of the assets of the fund.
Among the pastors of the past twenty-five years were many celebrated church-
men. Rev. W. P. Elsdon, who, after a serious illness, went totally blind, had in
1892 increased the membership by 200 during his four-year pastorate. He was
succeeded by Rev. Francis J. Parry, D. D., who died during his pastorate. After
him came Rev. Oscar Haywood, Rev. Albert G. Lawson, and in 1912 the present
pastor, Rev. Horace B. Sloat.
The membership of the church's Italian mission, which is showing a steady
growth, is now sixty. Its present pastor is Rev. John Barone. The memberhip
of the church in 191 7 is 802 — 605 resident and 150 non-resident members.
Dedicatory and Old Home week, in which the new church edifice was first
occupied, took place from September 23 to 30, 1917-
The officers of the church, elected in 1917, are: Trustees, Loren R. Carter,
Wm. H. Robbins, C. P. Haight; deacons, V. M. Shaw, Wm. R. Dixon, Geo. H.
Carter, David Crandall, Wm. O'Neill, Loren Durner, A. J. Shipley, E. G. Terry ;
deaconesses, Mrs. E. W. Smith, Miss Margaret McWhinnie ; treasurer, Warren S.
Trott ; clerk. Burton J. Hine ; assistant clerk, C. A. Peck ; collector, Geo. W. Wat-
son ; assistant collector, Lyman Rich.
118 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH OF WATERBURY
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding- of the Second Baptist Church
of Waterbury was celebrated in the fall of 1917, although the actual date of the
organization of the church was May 17, 1892. The postponement for a few
months was due to the desire to dedicate the new pipe organ, the intallation of
which was a feature of the anniversary.
Twenty-five years ago the congregation put up a small chapel for services, and
this has since been moved back to make place for the fine auditorium built a few
years later. The chapel is now used for the Sunday School. The membership of
the church is no. The Sunday School has an enrollment of 150, with an average
attendance of 100.
The Rev. Harvey W. Funk came to the church in November, 1915, succeeding
Rev. J. F. Vaught, who had been its pastor for eight years.
The officers of the church elected in 1917 are as follows : Pastor, Rev. Harvey
W. Funk ; clerk, Esther Mitchell ; treasurer, Edward J. Morgan.
GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
The Grace Baptist Church was organized on April 15, 1900. to provide a place
of worship for the colored population of that denomination. Rev. Isaac W. Reed,
the present pastor, has been with the congregation during its entire existence,
except the first eight months. The pastor at its organization was Rev. J. Moses
Hopkins.
The church building, which was erected immediately after the organization,
was cleared of debt six years ago.
At the outset, the membership was 17. This year it has enrolled 160, with no
in the Sunday School. In fact, the growth has been so continuous that a new
and larger house of worship is now in contemplation.
The officers elected for 1917 are : Pastor, Rev. Isaac W. Reed ; clerk, Caroline
Lee ; superintendent of Sunday School, Miss M. L. Benton,
SWEDISH BAPTIST TABERNACLE
On May 10 and 12, 1917, the Swedish Baptist Tabernacle celebrated its
twenty-fifth anniversary as a church. During its struggling years it worshipped
in a chapel near the site of the present church, 22 Bishop Street. Twelve years ago,
during the pastorate of Rev. A. O. Lawrence, it began the erection of its present
church home, worshipping in the basement for some time. During the pastorate
of Rev. A. Linde, the church was completed and dedicated. For the past two
years its pastor has been the Rev. O. W. Johnson, who succeeded Rev. Nils Berg,
who had come to the church direct from Sweden. The membership of the church
is 68, with a Sunday School attendance of 30. The services are well attended,
those present on Sunday evening, including visitors, numbering from 75 to ICO
regularly.
The officers of the church, elected in 191 7, are as follows : Pastor, Rev. O. W.
Johnson ; treasurer, Gustaf R. Erickson ; clerk and superintendent of Sunday
School, Nils A. Hilding.
GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF WATERBURY
In October, 1916, the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Waterbury cele-
brated the quarter century of its existence. Its present pastor is Rev. Martin J.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 119
Lorenz, who came to the church four years ago from Lindenhurst, L. I., succeed-
ing the Rev. L. Brunke, who died last year. Its first pastor was Rev. \\'m. Jentsch,
who served from 1891 to [898. He was succeeded by Doctor Minkus, Rev.
Richard Pfeil and Rev. J. A. Lenke.
In May, 1916, a site for a church was purchased on Grove Street, and during
the coming year, if building conditions improve, a new house of worship will be
erected. The church started with a membership of 30 and now has 275 contribut-
ing members.
The officers of the church, elected in 1917, are: Pastor, Rev. Martin ]\
Lorenz ; secretary, Edward Koslosky ; treasurer, Ernest Burtsch.
THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN ST. JOHN'S CHURCH OF WATERBURY
The Evangelical Lutheran St. John's Church was founded September 20, 1903,
by the following German citizens of Waterbury: Reinhold Brenner, Gustav
Nickel, Ernest Schnabel, Robert Molzon, Frederick Marlow, August Schmidt,
Henrick Bojke, Ferd. Kranvitz, Daniel Kratzke, Ed Litwin. It was served as
a mission during the first year by Rev. O. Duessel, of Bristol. In 1904, the
Swedish Lutheran Church on Cherry Street was rented and its first pastor in
this church was Rev. August Koerber, who remained until 1905. His successor
was Rev. Julius Kretzmann. In 1906, during his pastorate, the church was incor-
porated and the building at 48-50 Park Place was purchased. In this building
the congregation worshipped until November, 1916, when it was sold and tem-
porary arrangements were made to hold services in the parish house of St. John's
Episcopal Church. Contract has been let for a new church building, and it is now
in process of erection on Cooke Street, between Grove and North Main streets.
It is expected to be occupied early in 1918.
Rev. Julius Kretzmann left in 1909 for New Haven, and for a time continued
to serve the Waterbury congregation. On July 18, 1909, Rev. Valentin Geist
came to the church. He remained until January 5, 1914, and was succeeded by
Rev. F. H. Lindemann. The present pastor, Rev. Edward Paul Merkel, came to
the church in August, 1916.
The church has 85 enrolled on its list, and a Sunday School of about 20, with
three teachers in charge. The officers of the church at present are: Pastor, Rev.
Edward P. Merkel ; secretary, F. H. A. Buf e ; treasurer, H. Abel.
SWEDISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN ZION CHURCH OF WATERBURY
The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Zion Church of Waterbury was organized
January I, 1891, and celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1916. It has its
own house of worship at 210 Cherry Street, and its membership has shown steady
growth during the past decade.
Its officers, elected in 1917, are as follows: Pastor, Rev. J. Herman Olsson ;
secretary, Carl E. Olander ; treasurer, Fred Person.
SECOND ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF WATERBURY
The Second Advent Christian Church of Waterbury was organized May 12,
1881, with about a dozen members. The late Thomas Fitzsimons and Kendrick
1 1. Simons were largely instrumental in effecting the same, and both remained
members until their death. The widow of the latter, Mrs. Maria A. Simons, of
04 Cherry Street, Waterbury, is the only surviving charter member at the present
lime.
120 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The pastors have been as follows, in the order named : Rev. Geo. L. Teeple,
Rev. L. F. Baker, Rev. Cornelius Pike, Rev. Jas. A. Gardner, Rev. Chester F. L.
Smith, Rev. A. Judson Bolster, and the present pastor, Rev. Thomas Feltman.
For several years after organization, the services were held in a hall on Bank
Street, but in 1886, during the pastorate of Rev. L. F. Baker, a church building
was erected on the present Cherry Street site. This building was remodeled in
1906 — the year of the church's twenty-fifth anniversary. A Sunday School room
was arranged in the basement.
The debt incurred on the original building and for remodeling was cleared off
in 1914, during the term of the present pastor, and a special service was held in
the fall of that year, at which the burning of the note took place.
On July 3, 1913, the church was incorporated under the laws of Connecticut.
The present membership is 147. The present officers are : Deacons, Theo. Patchen,
Samuel J. Bonney; assistant deacon, Wm. Strong; elders, Charles H. Chatfield,
Geo. Read ; treasurer, Eben J. Lewis ; collector, Harry S. Johnson ; steward,
Wm. Moulthrop ; Sunday School superintendent, Charles B. Slater, and clerk,
Henry D. Curtiss.
THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST
On January 19, 1898, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, was organized,
with the following charter members : Leon I. Wood, Carrie W. Blakeslee, Mary
T. Thompson, Winifred A. Wood, and George G. Blakeslee. The first readers
appointed were Mrs. Geo. Blakeslee and Mr. Leon I. Wood.
There has been a steady, healthy growth and during the past year a site for a
building was purchased at the corner of Holmes and Mitchell Avenue. The new
structure, it is stated, will probably be erected during the next year.
At present, the Sunday and Wednesday evening meetings are held in the
reading rooms in the Buckingham building.
The present readers are Mrs. Belle Stone Booth, Mrs. Ada B. Soper. The
president of the society is Mr. Harry A. Soper, and its treasurer is Mrs. Minnie
T. Manville. Mr. Lyman D. Lewis is clerk.
buck's hill union chapel
Buck's Hill Union Chapel is non-denominational. It was founded twenty-
two years ago, the ground for the house of worship having been donated by the
late George Faber, Sr. Its membership is about fifty. It expects soon to have
a Sunday School organized. At present its pastor is Rev. Roscoe E. Hatch, of
All Souls' Parish. Its officers are Wm. Foster and W. A. Piatt.
UNION CHAPEL, MILL PLAIN
Union Chapel, Mill Plain, is non-denominational, its four trustees, M. E.
Pierpont, F. W. Ineson, H. M. Judd, H. I. Abel, representing the four protestant
denominations — Episcopal, Methodist, Congregational and Baptist.
Its membership is about two hundred and its Sunday School has an attendance
of about one hundred and fifty. It is served by a pastor of each of the above
denominations once each month.
The church, which is thirty years old, had much to overcome after its build-
ing burned, but the new structure is in every way adequate, and the membership
is showing a steady growth.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 121
WATERVILLE CHAPEL
Waterville Chapel is now celebrating the end of its first decade of non-
denominational work. It has a membership of fifty, with forty-five in attendance
at Sunday School.
Its pastor is Miss M. A. Barrett. The superintendent of the Sunday School
is Miss E. M. Weeks. Its executive board consists of S. Butcher. Jr., M.
McAllister, and Robert Benninghoff.
CHAPTER IX
THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF WATERBURY
catholic population by parishes immaculate' conception st. patrick's
its dedication sacred heart st. ann's st. cecilia st. francis xavier
— st. Joseph's — st. thomas — our lady of lourdes — st. Margaret's — blessed
sacrament st. michael's st. stanislaus convents and schools
holy name society sketches of monsignor slocum and father curtin
m'givney day.
Waterbury's Catholic population was estimated at one-half the census figures
for the city in 1890. In 1917, with a population of approximately 100,000, it can
conservatively be placed at 55 to 60 per cent of the total. Reliable parish
figures bear this out and the table compiled here is as given by the church
authorities in each instance.
Immaculate Conception 6,700
Sacred Heart 3,600
St. Patrick's 3,000
Our Lady of Lourdes (Italian ) 17,500
St. Joseph's (Lithuanian) 6,000
St. Ann's ( French) 4,000
St. Francis Xavier 3,000
St. Stanislaus (Polish) 1,300
St. Cecilia (German) 3,000
St. Michael's 1,000
St. Margaret's 2,100
Blessed Sacrament 850
St. Thomas 2,200
Total 54,250
This growth from that beginning eighty years ago when Cornelius Donnelly
was the only Catholic living here is a marvelous record. Where in 1847 there
was a small one-story frame church dedicated by the small Catholic community,
there are today thirteen distinct parishes, as many beautiful churches, six
parochial schools, six convents, rectories in practically every parish, St. Mary's
Hospital, one of the largest of its class in New England, and St. Mary's Day
Nursery.
This large Catholic population has always been foremost in all public move-
ments. It has aided in every civic endeavor to beautify the city and to make
it a better municipality, morally and physically.
While it has its own parochial schools in a few parishes it has taken a deep
interest in the building-up of the city's public school system. Father Hugh
Treanor, among many of the Catholic faith, serves on its school board. In
fact, it was during the chairmanship of Father Treanor that much of the work
of thoroughly organizing the school system of the city was done.
122
WATERBURY AND THE NTAUGATUCK \ ALLEY 123
In the following history of the parishes, the records are confined largely to
those of the past twenty-five years, and supplement the excellent work done in
the previous histories of Waterbury.
MM CHURCH OF THE [MMACULATE CONCEPTION
In the parish of the Immaculate Conception rests the beginning of the
Catholic church work in Waterbury. The memory of the Right Rev. T. F.
Hendricken, who built the present Church of the Immaculate Conception, dedi-
cating it December [9, [855, is revered hy Catholics and non-Catholics alike,
for his activities were community-wide and he laid not alone a wonderful corner-
stone for the church, hut one upon which many of the city's noblest benefactions
have been erected. Without going deeply into the earlier history of this parish,
it is well to add that during the pastorate of Rev. William A. Harty part of the
present Calvary Cemetery was purchased, part of the land for St. Joseph's
Cemetery having been bought by Father Hendricken.
During the pastorate of Father John A. Mulcahy, St. Mary's School was
built and opened in 1896, and was then placed in charge of the Sisters of Charity
from Convent Station, N. J. Its first superior was Sister Rosita, who was
succeeded by Sister Marie Agnes, and she by the present superior, Sister
Claudine. St. Mary's Convent was occupied on November 27, 1889. St.
Patrick's Hall was built the same year. In 1891 Father Mulcahy greatly enlarged
by purchase the property of the church now known as Calvary Cemetery.
This was consecrated by the bishop of the diocese May 24, 1894. The splendid
work of Monsignor Slocum followed, and St. Mary's Hospital, which he founded
but the completion of which he did not live to see, will remain an enduring
monument to his memory. A sketch of the life work of Monsignor Slocum, as
well as the history of St. Mary's Hospital, will be found elsewhere.
Rev. Luke Fitzsimons, the present pastor, delivered his first sermon in
Waterbury August 6, 19 10. His work has been in line with all the beneficent
deeds of his predecessors. Since coming to the parish, he has established St.
Mary's Day Nursery, in which approximately seventy-five children are cared for
daily. These are the children of mothers who are compelled to work during the
day. Three sisters are in charge, and not alone are the children fed, but those
old enough are given instruction. In 191 5 Father Fitzsimons bought the
Grannis property on Franklin Street and turned the home on it into a recreation
hall and infirmary for children.
There are at present in St. Mary's School 1,100 pupils, with twenty-two
sisters and one lay teacher in charge. St. Mary's Convent houses twenty-four
sisters. St. Patrick's Hall at no Fast Main Street has been enlarged since its
foundation. It contains two chapels, one for boys and one for girls. The
Sunday School is also conducted there and has an attendance of about one
hundred. This is for children who go to the public school-.
Father Fitzsimons graduated from Holy Cross College at Worcester, Mass..
from which place in 1873 he went to Troy, N. Y., for his theological course.
He was ordained a priest in June, 1876. His first assignment was as assistant
at Sacred Heart Church, New Haven. He was four years at Collinsville, and
then became parish priest at New Hartford in July, 1881, remaining there
until 1900.
The four assistants to Father Fitzsimons are: Father J. A. Doherty,
Father E. P. Cryne. Father J. A. Dowd and Father F. M. O'Shea.
124 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
st. Patrick's church
On the first day of February, 1880, the Rev. John Duggan was appointed by
the Rt. Rev. Lawrence McMahon, pastor of St. Patrick's Parish. About three
weeks later was purchased the land upon which the church stands, besides three
acres of adjoining property. The following year Father Duggan came to
Waterbury and commenced the work of the organization of the parish.
The cornerstone of St. Patrick's Church was laid by P>ishop McMahon
October 16, 1881.
Father Duggan died November 10, 1895, and his remains were buried in
front of the church. The zeal of Father Duggan in behalf of his parishioners
in the decade and a half which he was spared to them was productive of marvelous
results. Father Duggan was immediately succeeded by the Rev. Joseph M.
Gleeson.
Father Gleeson attended St. Dunstan's Preparatory College, afterwards going
to Mount Mellory, Ireland, which college was in charge of the Cistercian monks.
He spent five years there, completing the classical course. His studies in
philosophy and theology were made in the Grand Seminary, Montreal. He
was ordained to the holy priesthood by the Most Rev. Archbishop Fabre,
December 23, 1876. He was appointed assistant to the Rev. Michael Tierney,
the present bishop, then pastor of St. John's Church, Stamford, where
he remained until November 1, 1878, when he was transferred to Danielson.
In March, 1879, he was sent as assistant to the Rev. Father Mulcahy. Father
Gleeson was appointed by the Right Rev. Bishop McMahon, pastor of St.
Anthony's Church, Litchfield, April 1, 1883. On the 28th day of November,
1885, he was appointed pastor of Portland. During his pastorate he brought
there the Sisters of Mercy. The first Catholic school was opened in Portland
by him February 1, 1889. He was afterwards appointed pastor of St. Patrick's
Church, Thompsonville. He came to Waterbury to succeed the Rev. Father
Duggan December 2, 1895.
He immediately took up the arduous work of finishing the church and
rectory. The plastering work on both house and church was then being done.
Besides carrying on the stupendous work of the completion of the massive
structures, additions were made to the Lyceum Building, and a church building
erected in the Waterville district. Meanwhile, the Sisters of St. Joseph were
introduced into the parish. A free kindergarten school was opened in the
Lyceum and several new societies were organized.
But the great task of completing the church ended in 1903, and on Sunday,
January 18th of that year, the magnificent edifice was solemnly dedicated by
Right Rev. Bishop Tierney.
After the dedicatory services, pontifical mass was celebrated, His Eminence,
Cardinal Gibbons, being celebrant. The sermon at the morning service was
preached by the Rev. D. J. Stafford, D. D., of Washington. In the evening
solemn high vespers were sung by the famous Bishop Harkins of Providence,
R. L, and the sermon was preached by the Rev. M. F. Fallon, O. M. I., of
Buffalo.
The several services were marked by that richness of ritual, splendor of
ceremony and gorgeous magnificence which is characteristic of Catholic services.
The magnificent singing, the splendor of the church, the beauty of the service
and the presence of so many priests, all were inspiring. Greater dignity was
added to the gathering by the presence of His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons,
Bishop Tierney of Hartford, Bishop Harkins of Providence,, and Monsignor
Murphy of Dover, N. H.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 125
St. Patrick's Church is situated in the heart of the Brooklyn district on
high ground on a lot containing nearly three acres. The church fronts on
Charles Street and overlooks the city. Its roof towers high above almost every
other structure, and the building proper is of imposing appearance. The church
is built of a light blue granite, with trimmings of cut stone of the same material,
and is constructed in the most substantial and perfect manner. The basement
is more than fifteen feet in height, and has a seating capacity of over one thousand
persons. There are four spacious entrances to the basement, one at each corner
of the building, and two flights of stairs connecting with the church above.
Although the nave of the basement is seventy-six feet wide, there are but
two rows of iron columns placed under the clerestory columns of the church
above and supporting them. The church floors are supported upon heavy com-
pound wrought iron girders, resting on these columns and on the walls, so that
the basement is clear of all obstruction, excepting these, and preserves the
comfort and convenience of a finished church. Tt is lighted by large windows
of cathedral glass. The width between the main side walls is seventy-six feet.
The style of the building is the early decorated Gothic, which prevailed at the
commencement of the fourteenth century, when the expressive features of
Christian architecture were developed.
The tower is in the northeast corner, fronting on Charles Street. It does
not grow out of the church, but is distinct itself, carrying out the monumental
idea of a church tower. The main entrance comprises three large doorways,
besides one in the tower communicating with the church and with the end
•jalleries which extend across the nave. The auditorium will have a seating
s
capacity of 1,525 persons. At the sanctuary end are two other entrances con-
necting with the church proper, with the basement by a staircase, and with the
sacristies on each side of the sanctuary, which are connected by a passway
between the altar.
The parish of St. Patrick numbers about three thousand souls. As the parish of
the Blessed Sacrament has been largely taken from St. Patrick's, there is no
apparent growth shown, although this has in fact been considerable in its more
limited territory.
Including the children, the Sunday attendance approximates one thousand
two hundred.
When the church was dedicated in 1903 it had a debt of $85,000.00. Today
the debt is about $33,000.00 and just as soon as this is liquidated, the church will
begin the erection of a school and convent for the parish.
The assistants to Father Gleeson are Father Thomas A. Grumbley and Father
Daniel J. Manning.
SACRED HEART CHURCH
On Sunday, February 15, 1885, the Rev. William Harty, then rector of
the parish of the Immaculate Conception, made the formal announcement that
the Right Rev. Bishop McMahon had established a new parish in the city. The
announcement was not entirely unexpected, as rumors of the intended division
had been current for some time. The new parish was to comprise East Main
Street east of Dublin Street, all of Dublin Street, the east side of Welton Street,
Walnut Street and all of the streets east of these points, and would include
between 1.500 and 2,000 souls. The Rev. Hugh Treanor, who for six years
had been the efficient assistant pastor of St. Mary's Church, Xorwalk. was
appointed pastor of the new parish by Bishop McMahon. A short time after
126 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
the division the land on which the church now stands was purchased by Father
Treanor.
On Sunday, February 22, 1885, Father Treanor preached his initial sermon
to his new flock in the Church of the Immaculate Conception. On March 1st
of the same year the members of the Sacred Heart Parish held divine services
for the first time as a distinct congregation in St. Patrick's Chapel. Services
were held there until the date of the blessing of the basement of the new
church March 14, 1886.
On Sunday, August 16, 1885, the cornerstone of the new church was laid by
Bishop McMahon. On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1889, the new church
was solemnly dedicated.
The cornerstone was laid by Bishop McMahon in the presence of an esti-
mated attendance of 8,000 persons. The sermon was preached by the Rev.
Francis Delargy of the Order of Redemptorists. The handsome silver trowel
used by the Bishop during the ceremony was presented to the Rev. John Russell
of New Haven, who was the largest contributor on the occasion.
On March 14, 1886, the basement of the church was blessed and formally
opened for divine worship. Bishop McMahon graced the occasion by his presence.
The Rev. John Russell was the celebrant of the mass and the sermon was
preached by the Rev. William J. Slocum, then of Norwalk. At the vesper
service confirmation was administered for the first time in the new church to a
class of over sixty children.
Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1889, witnessed the crowning of the good
work. On that day the new church edifice was solemnly dedicated under the
patronage of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by the Right Rev. Bishop McMahon.
The celebrant of the mass was the Rev. Michael Tierney, later the bishop of
the diocese. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Thomas Broderick of
Hartford. In the evening vespers were sung, the Rev. James Fagan of Naugatuck
officiating.
In 1893 and 1894 the present beautiful rectory was built.
Father Treanor remained as head of the parish for nearly thirteen years,
leaving it to take charge of St. Patrick's Parish, Norwich. During this period
of change, Rev. Thomas Shelley was in charge of the parish, and the school and
convent were erected about ten years ago.
In October, 1912, Father Treanor returned and has been active in the work
of building up the church of which he was the founder. In this period he has
added another story to the school building, giving the parish a fine hall for its
own immediate purposes.
The census of the parish is now about three thousand. The attendance at the
four masses Sunday is about two thousand two hundred.
The parochial school has an attendance of 450 and is in charge of ten sisters.
st. ann's church
St. Ann's Parish was founded in April, 1886, to provide services for the
French Catholic population. Rev. Joseph Fones, who was at that time pastor
of St. John's Parish, Watertown, was given this additional charge and services
were held in the old Universalist Chapel on Grand Street. The first service was
held on May 2, 1886. During the following year, Father Fones devoted his
entire time to St. Ann's and purchased the lot on which the present edifice stands.
Rev. J. E. Bourret succeeded him and planned the work of building the magnifi-
cent church which it is hoped will soon be dedicated.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 127
Rev. Joseph E. Senesac, his successor, who died April 16, 1906. undertook
the actual erection of the magnificent new church at South Main and Dover
streets. Trihutes were paid to his work when the cornerstone of the edifice
was laid hy Right Rev. Michael Tiemey, Bishop of Hartford., on May 27, 1906,
a little over a month after he had passed away. Father A. R. Grolleau, pastor of
St. Aim's Church, Fall River, delivered the sermon in French. The clergy of
the entire diocese participated.
The exterior of the church is now complete, hut the interior work is still
unfinished, the basement, which will eventually he the parish hall, heing used
for church services.
Rev. Ernest A. Lamontagne built the new convent six years ago. The school
too has heen greatly enlarged and is conducted by eighteen Sisters of the Holy
(■host, who in 1906 succeeded the Notre Dame Sisters.
The property of the parish today comprises the magnificent church which
is built of granite and Vermont blue marble, two schools, the assembly hall, the
rectory and the convent.
The census of the parish places the population at 4,000. The enrollment in
the school is 650.
Father Lamontagne has taken a deep interest in the organization of the social
work of the church, all the societies having large and enthusiastic memberships.
He has also organized the St. John the Baptist Guards, a semi-military organiza-
tion, and a troop of Boy Scouts.
st. Cecilia's parish
The formation by the German Catholics of Waterbury of a Holy Family
Society in April, 1892, was the auspicious beginning of St. Cecilia's Parish.
Even before the organization of the parish the land on Scovill Street, on which
the church now stands, was purchased. On November 10, 1892, Rev. Farrell
Martin, D. D., who had been assistant at the Immaculate Conception, was made
pastor of the new parish, and the first services were held in the chapel of the
Sisters of Notre Dame. The cornerstone of the new church was laid July 29,
1894, and the edifice was dedicated November 18, 1894. The master of cere-
monies was the Rev. J. H. O'Donnell of Watertown. High mass was celebrated
by Vicar-general Mulcahy, assisted by the Rev. J. H. Duggan as deacon and the
Rev. William Lynch as sub-deacon. A sermon in German was preached by the
Rev. John Roser, O. S. F., and one in English by the Rev. L. A. Delury, O. S. A.
The building is 95 feet long by 56 feet wide on the front, and has a seat-
ing capacity of about six hundred. The design is purely Gothic ; the material
is pallet brick with brown stone trimmings. There are three large entrance
doors at the front, with six lancet windows just above, and over these a large
rose window, glazed with opalescent glass in beautiful tints. Three aisles lead
to the chancel rail and through three separate gates into the sanctuary. Within
are three altars, the main altar in the center and the altars of the Blessed Virgin
and St. Joseph on either side. The main windows are of figured glass. Directly
over the central altar is the figure of St. Cecilia with pandean pipes. Additional
windows represent other saints, the Holy Family and the immaculate Conception.
During the pastorate of Doctor Martin the rectory was also built. Father
Martin was succeeded in the pastorate five years ago by the present pastor,
Father Reinhard Bardeck. According to the last church census, there are in
the parish about seven hundred Catholic families, approximately three thousand
souls. Father Bardeck is a graduate of St. John'- Seminary, at Brighton, near
128 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Boston, and was ordained in 1900 at Hartford. He was assistant in Rockville
for three years, and before coming to Waterbury had been parish priest of a
German congregation in Hartford.
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER PARISH
St. Francis Xavier Parish was formed November 30, 1895. On December
3, 1895, Rev. Jeremiah J. Curtin took charge as pastor and began the building
up of this great parish, a monument to his labors of nearly twenty-two years.
On December 30, 1895, the temporary rectory at the corner of Washington and
Baldwin streets was occupned by Father Curtin. On January 2, 1896, the first
mass was held for the parish at the auditorium.
On December 3, 1902, the present site for the new church was purchased
and the cornerstone was laid with impressive services by Bishop Tierney of
Hartford on November 1, 1903.
The basement chapel was dedicated on November 12, 1905, and the entire
church was opened with solemn services on March 4, 1907. While the church
was building, the rectory was also under way and was ready for occupancy
in 1905.
The church is a beautiful edifice. It is 138 feet long, j6 feet wide. The
auditorium is 85 feet long and 68 feet wide. The apex of the ceiling is 55 feet
from the floor. The tower is 140 feet above the ground elevation. Its seating
capacity is 1,150.
Father Curtin also built in 1914 the parish hall for boys and opened a fine
playground with tennis courts in the rear of the present church property.
The census of the parish places its Catholic population at 3,000. At the
five Sunday masses, the attendance is about two thousand.
Rev. James J. Egan succeeded to the pastorate, coming from New Milford,
Conn., July 11, 1917. He is a graduate of Laval University, Montreal.
His assistants are Fathers John P. Kennedy and Edward Ouinn.
st. Joseph's parish
St. Joseph's Parish, consisting of the Lithuanian Catholics of Waterbury, was
organized in 1894. The Rev. Joseph Zabris was appointed pastor on March 28th.
The first mass was celebrated on April 1st, in Mitchell's Block on Bank Street.
On September 28th the Dreher property was purchased and the erection of
a church was begun on October 6th. On Thanksgiving Day, November 29, 1894,
the cornerstone was laid with the usual services. Vicar-general John A. Mulcahy
performed the ceremony with Dr. Farrell Martin as sub-deacon. The address
of the occasion was delivered by the Rev. Joseph Jaksztys. first in the Lithuanian
and then in the Polish language.
The Lithuanian Catholics had, however, been organized for some years prior
to the building of their church. In fact, the date of the actual founding of St.
Joseph's Church is given as May 1, 1892. Father Zabris was succeeded twenty
years ago by the Rev. Peter Saurusaitis, who had been ordained priest by
Cardinal Gibbons. During his pastorate the parish has grown so that it now
numbers 6,000 souls. The new church, which has since been erected, has a
seating capacity of 800 and at the four Sunday masses it is estimated that the
total attendance is about three thousand. The rectory has also been constructed
within the decade, and a new school has been added to the small old school, the
early church structure which the parish soon outgrew. The new school is directly
SACRED HEART CHURCH AND RECTORY, WATERBURY
CHURCH OF OCR LADY OF LorilDKS. WATKKIJU! Y
WATKKl'.lkY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 129
opposite the church. The school attendance is placed at 900, with sixteen sisters
in charge. The convent is at the corner of Liberty and South Main streets. In this
convent, which is strictly speaking St. Ann's Parish, other sisters are also housed.
These look after the sick and do other beneficent parish work. A notable event,
June 10, 1917. was the celebration of his first mass by Father Joseph A.
Yankovsky, a young man who was born and raised in Waterbury.
The assistant in the parish is Father Valantiejus.
ST. THOMAS PARISH
St. Thomas Parish was organized September 25, 1898, although the church
which had been erected by Monsignor Slocum at Crown and Beacon streets was
for some years a chapel of the Parish of the Immaculate Conception. Father
Timothy Crowley, now in New London, was its first pastor. He built the school
and convent and in the former there are now 350 to 400 children enrolled, with
the sisters in charge. The convent was erected opposite the school. The church
census places the Catholic population of the parish at 2,200.
Rev. F. J. Lally, the present pastor, succeeded Father James Cunningham,
who died a year after coming to the church. Father Lally has been in the
pastorate six years, coming here from Poquonock Parish. He is a graduate of
the seminary at St. Bonaventure, Allegany, N. Y.
Father William Kennedy was the first curate, Rev. Timothy Sullivan suc-
ceeding him. Fathers Joseph Ryan, John Brennan and Wm. O'Brien followed,
and the curate today is Father D. T. Moran.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES PARISH
It is in the Italian parish of "Our Lady of Lourdes" that the phenomenal
growth has taken place, estimates of the church census being placed at figures
ranging from 15,000 to 20,000. This is easily an increase of 7,000 in five years,
and perhaps 5,000 in two years.
In the year 1899 the Italian Catholics of Waterbury were organized into
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish by the Rev. Father Michael A. Karam, the first
pastor, at the request of the Right Rev. Bishop Tierney.
Before Father Karam's appointment, the Italians were under the pastoral
charge of the Rev. Dr. Martin of St. Cecilia's German Parish.
On June 11, 1899, Father Karam said the first mass for the Italian Catholics
of Waterbury in a building on Canal Street.
On Sunday, October 25, 1903, the cornerstone of Our Lady of Lourdes Church
was laid by Right Rev. Bishop Tierney, in the presence of an assemblage of
between 10,000 and 12,000 people.
During the year 1905, the new rectory of gray brick, in the same style as the
church, was erected, and in the following year Father Karam built in the rear
of the rectory a small convent and school.
One of the most notable celebrations the Italians have ever given in this
city was held at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes on May 19, 1908, on which
day the pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes celebrated the twenty-fifth
anniversary of his entrance into the priesthood. An interesting feature of the
occasion was a gift to Father Karam from Pope Pius X of a large photograph
on which the Holy Father had written a few words of blessing and his autograph.
The new church on South Main Street was dedicated on Sunday, February 14,
1909. with a solemn high mass, the Rev. Michael A. Karam being the celebrant,
' Vol. 1—9
130 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
the Right Rev. Monsignor John Synnott, administrator of the Diocese of Hart-
ford, making the dedicatory ceremony. The exercises were simple and impressive.
The church has a frontage of 70 feet on South Main Street and is 127 feet
in depth. The height of the nave or body of the church is 55 feet, and the
campanile or bell tower is 100 feet in height. The basement was first completed
and roofed over, and used for a number of years for church services, and was
occupied also while the super-structure was being built.
The general plan consists of a high nave, lighted by clerestory windows, with
two aisles. Each aisle terminates in a semi-circular apse in which the side
altars are placed. The main altar is also placed in a large semi-circular apse,
surrounded by an entablature and columns in which are arches and niches for the
numerous statues with which the interior is adorned.
The exterior of the church is built of gray pressed brick and trimmed with
Indiana limestone and terra cotta. The main roofs are of slate. The campanile,
which was afterwards destroyed, was built near the rear after the manner of
Italian churches.
The rectory is on the north side, adjoining the church, and in the rear of
this is the school and convent, both incorporated in one building.
On November 9, 1912, the present pastor, Rev. Joseph Valdambrini, took
charge of the parish. On April 8, 1916, part of the roof, the interior of the
tower and part of the ceiling were destroyed by fire. By Christmas, 1916, the
church had not alone been completely repaired, save the restoration of the tower,
but ten new windows had been placed in the edifice.
The attendance at the Sunday masses is between 2,000 and 2,500. The
Sunday School has an attendance of between 700 and 800. It has not been
found, however, feasible to continue the parochial school.
Father Felix Scoglini is the assistant.
st. Margaret's parish
St. Margaret's Parish was organized July 29, 1910, Rev. Edward J. Brennan,
the present pastor, having been named to take charge. The church was built
at once to meet the needs of the district. In the following year the rectory
was built. Two years ago the school was opened, with eight large class rooms
and on the top floor a fine hall, seating 400 people. Ten sisters were brought
from the Mother House at Hartford, and are in charge of the school. At present
the convent on Chestnut Avenue is rented.
A large plot of ground has been purchased at Ludlow and Willow streets,
on which Father Brennan hopes soon to be able to erect a new church and convent.
The census of the parish places its Catholic population at 2,100. The attendance
at the four masses is placed at t,6oo. The school enrollment is between 200
and 300.
Rev. Edward J. Brennan was chaplain in the United States Navy for eight
years before coming to Waterbury. He had also been at St. John's, New Haven,
and St. Francis in Torrington. The curate now is Father William Kilcoyne, who
succeeded Father John Quinn.
BLESSED SACRAMENT PARISH
The Church of the Blessed Sacrament was organized May 7, 191 1, incorporat-
ing the following month. Its first pastor, Rev. Terence D. Smith, who had been in
charge of a parish at Watertown, began at once the erection of the church and
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK \ ALLEY 131
the rectory and these were ready for dedication the following year. The census
places the Catholic population of the parish at 850. The attendance at its two
masses Sunday is 450. tts Sunday School attendance is 120. Rev. Edward A.
Flannery succeeded to the pastorate May 3, 1917, Father Smith going to Bridge-
port to found a new parish. Father Flannery came from I lazardville, where he
had been in charge of the parish for fifteen years. Father John II. Landry
is curate.
Father Flannery and his assistant also look after the spiritual needs of the
Catholics at Brookside and at the Waterbury Hospital.
ST. STANISLAUS PARISH
( »n July 7, 1012, St. Stanislaus Church was organized, its incorporation tak-
ing place in February, 19 13. This is the Polish parish and the census gives it
about one thousand three hundred souls. It is at present worshipping in the
basement of what will be its church structure on East Farm Street.
It has an attendance of 200 at masses, and 105 in its Sunday School. Rev.
Theodore Zimmerman has been in charge of the parish for the past three years.
st. Michael's parish
For some years there had been a growing need for a church at Waterville,
and in 1897 Father Gleeson, of St. Patrick's, Waterbury, erected a chapel on
Thomaston Avenue, as a part of his parish. This later, in 1902, became 'St.
Michael's parish, with Father Matthew J. Traynor in charge. He was at the
head of the parish for fifteen vears, being succeeded on Mav 2, 1917, by Rev.
David R. O'Donnell.
The census places the Catholic population at 1,000. The attendance at the
two Sunday masses is 600.
Father Traynor built the rectory and enlarged the church during his pastor-
ate. He also purchased the ground on Thomaston Avenue, just above the pres-
ent site, and on this it is proposed to erect a new edifice at an early date.
OTHER CATHOLIC ACTIVITIES
The Academy of Xotre Dame, which is in charge of fourteen sisters, was
established here forty-eight years ago, and supplies not alone a graded and high
school curriculum, but has needlework, art and commercial courses as well. The
main building was erected in 1889. The institute is affiliated with the Catholic
University at Washington.
Of the Catholic societies, the largest and most prominent is Sheridan Council,
No. 24, Knights of Columbus, instituted May 2, 1885, which has a membership
of 900.
Sheridan Council meets in Knights of Columbus Hall at East Main Street and
Phoenix Avenue, and also occupies the floor below the meeting hall as a club. This
contains its beautiful library, has a lounging room and dining room, and is
exclusively for the use of the members of Sheridan Council.
The officers of this council are : Grand knight, John L. Gafifney ; deputy
grand knight, Timothy F. P>arry ; chancellor. James F. Colwell ; financial secretary,
Thomas D. Behan ; recorder, Wm. F. Guilfoile : acting treasurer, Carl J. Schultze ;
warden. John D. Tierney.
132 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Barcelona Council, No. 24, Knights of Columbus, has a membership of 100.
It also meets in Knights of Columbus Hall.
Its principal officers are : Grand knight, William F. Ryan ; recording secre-
tary, Thomas Dodd ; financial secretary, Michael F. Conlan ; treasurer, Walter E.
Monagan.
The Catholic Benevolent Legion, of which John McElligott is president and
Capt. P. F. Bannon is secretary, has a membership of about fifty.
The Catholic Women's Benevolent Legion was founded ten years ago. Its
first president was Miss A. J. Corden. Miss Katherine E. Conway is its presi-
dent now, Miss Elizabeth Guilfoile is its secretary, and Miss Jennie Bergen is
its treasurer.
THE HOLY NAME SOCIETIES
In each of the Catholic parishes of Waterbury there is organized a subordinate
branch of the Holy Name Society. Several of these branches are in a very flour-
ishing condition and are an important factor in the life and work of the parish.
The membership is restricted to men, and the roster of the society in each parish
contains the names of the most representative and loyal members of the parish.
In many parishes junior Holy Name societies have been organized, for the pur-
pose and with the result of bringing together maturing boys under noble influences
and guiding them safely through the dangers that beset their paths during the
interim between completed school days and early manhood.
Within the past decade notable advancement has been made by the Holy
Name societies of Waterbury. A Holy Name Athletic League has been formed
to furnish healthful recreation to the younger men, social entertainments under
Christian influences are held at the parish halls during the winter time, and
frequent addresses made by the city's ablest men on topics of local and national
interest provide educational entertainment at the society meetings.
Perhaps the most notable celebration of a civic-religious nature, in which
the citizens of Waterbury ever took part, was held in Waterbury, June 10, 1913,
the occasion of the State Meeting of the Holy Name Societies of Connecticut.
On that day the entire membership of the local branches of the society, together
with delegations, in many instances comprising entire societies, from almost
every city and town in Connecticut, marched in parade through the principal
streets of the city, and then assembled in the spacious playgrounds of Saint
Mary's Parochial School, on East Main Street. There they listened to patriotic
and religious orations by Rev. Luke Fitzsimons, who acted as master of cere-
monies, Bishop John Joseph Nilan of the Hartford diocese, and Lieutenant Gov-
ernor Lyman T. Tingier of the State of Connecticut. There also Bishop Nilan
officiated at the benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament, with Father Fitz-
simons acting as his assistant.
To Rev. Martin Keating, then a young curate at the Immaculate Conception
Church, now a chaplain in the United States Army, is due in a very lar^e meas-
ure the magnificence of this tribute of loyalty to God and country. His inde-
fatigable zeal and untiring perseverance planned and carried to fruition the
preparations of that day.
VERY REV. MONSIGNOR WILLIAM J. SLOCUM
On October 22, 1908, there passed away one of Waterbury's greatest prelates,
Very Rev. Monsignor Wm. J. Slocum, head of the parish of the Immaculate
Conception.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 133
Monsignor Slocum was born on February 6, 1851, in Winsted, the son of
Michael and Jane McCormick Slocum, both of whom were natives of Ireland,
and had adopted this as their country. He was the last to die of a family of six
children — John, Thomas, Michael and Frank Slocum, and one sister, Mrs. James
J, Fruin of Waterbury, having passed away.
After completing his primary education in the public and parochial schools
of Winsted, he was sent to St. Bonaventure's College and Seminary at Allegany,
N. Y. There he was conspicuous among his fellow students and held a high
rank in his class throughout his course. On June 22, 1876, he received the sacra-
ment of Holy Orders at the hands of the Rt. Rev. Stephen V. Ryan, then bishop
of Buffalo.
St. Peter's, Hartford, was the first parish which saw the young priest's labors.
The Rev. Lawrence Walsh, who later became rector of the Church of the Immacu-
late Conception in this city, was then the pastor of St. Peter's. Father Slocum
was not long in winning a firm place in the affections of the parishioners and his
faithfulness at St. Peter's was rewarded by his appointment as curate at St.
Patrick's parish in New Haven. This was then, even more than now, one of the
most important parishes in the diocese, and in a section, which even in those days,
had assumed a cosmopolitan character. Father Slocum proved a very useful and
helpful influence. He was under the Very Rev. James Lynch, then vicar-general
of the diocese, as well as pastor of St. Patrick's, and had a large part of the
city to look after. During that period he was the only priest in New Haven, for
some time, who heard the confessions of the Italian residents. They had no
church of their own at that time and Father Slocum was their chaplain during
the greater part of his time in New Haven.
The Rev. Jeremiah Fitzpatrick succeeded Father Lynch in the pastorate
while Father Slocum was still at St. Patrick's in New Haven, and, owing to the
pastor's illness, the young curate was called upon to take up much of the
executive work. From there he was assigned to St. Patrick's in Hartford, under
the Rt. Rev. Bishop McMahon, then the head of the diocese of Hartford. His
first appointment as pastor was made on May 1, 1883, when he took charge of
the parish at Norwalk. There he displayed splendid executive ability and the
parish made rapid strides spiritually and materially. He was made permanent
rector there in 1886.
Twelve years his life was given to his people and his parish in Norwalk, and
with such splendid results that Catholics and non-Catholics were loath to have
him relinquish his place there to come to Waterbury. It required the earnest
solicitation of the new head of the diocese, the late Rt. Rev. Bishop Tierney, to
win his consent to the change. He succeeded the Very Rev. John A. Mulcahy
here as permanent rector of the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Septem-
ber n, 1895.
It was noticeable from the very first that under his administration the parish
and Waterbury were to progress rapidly. Within a year he had reclaimed a
large part of St. Joseph's cemetery, the old cemetery, and three years after he
came here he purchased the present new St. Joseph's Cemetery.
The year of 1898 was marked as one of the most complete in accomplish-
ment in his entire career, for not only did he secure the new cemetery, but he
purchased the site and building of the present St. Thomas's Church. He paid
half of the entire debt on St. Thomas's parish at the time he turned the property
over to the people in that district.
Two years later, in 1900, the work of renovating the interior of the Church
of the Immaculate Conception was undertaken at a cost of $12,000.
134 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
In 1 90 1 the parish responded to another call and the Mulcahy Memorial Hall
was erected, with a fine library and gymnasium. This gave the Catholic school
children an institution which is enjoyed by comparatively few primary grammar
schools in the country. Two years later the erection of St. Mary's Grammar
School, on Cole Street, was undertaken, and at that time too the heating plant
for all the parochial buildings on Cole street was erected. St. Mary's Day
Nursery, supplying a long felt want, was purchased and opened in the year 1904,
and, in 1906, Father Slocum purchased the land on which St. Mary's Hospital
is now standing, at the corner of Franklin and Union streets.
After this site had been secured, the crowning event in Father Slocum's
career came when he announced that his his entire private fortune had been
turned over to found the new hospital, the establishment of which had been one
of his greatest desires
From time to time during his career the success and the many evidences of
remarkable zeal and ability of the priest reached the fathers of the church in the
higher offices and it was no great surprise when the announcement came that
Pope Pius X had elevated him to the rank of domestic prelate, "protonotaries ad
instar," and given him the title of very reverend and monsignor.
He was elevated to that office on January 3, 1907, at one of the most impres-
sive and imposing ceremonies ever held in this state, the late Bishop Tierney
performing the office in person.
REV. JEREMIAH J. CURTIN
The Rev. Jeremiah J. Curtin. who came to Waterbury in 1895 as pastor of
St. Francis Xavier Church, and whose death occurred on June 18, 1917, was
one of the great factors in the spiritual growth of the community.
Within two years from the beginning of his pastorate, he undertook to clean
out the evil influences in the bounds of his parish as far as that was possible.
He found that within its limits the saloons were flagrantly violating the law by
selling liquor to children. When the owners resented his interference, he filed
remonstrances against fourteen of them, engaged an attorney to plead his cause,
and had every license permanently revoked.
This was but the beginning of his battle for civic righteousness. He then
fought for the Sunday closing of saloons, and that too he took into the courts,
winning his victory only after a long legal struggle, in which appeals were taken
to the higher courts.
Xot satisfied with the work he had accomplished in his own parish, he extended
his battle from the limits of his parish on Baldwin Street to Scovill Bridge.
Father Curtin was not an advocate of total abstinence, but he was against the
abuse of any and all civic privileges. He was afraid of no man and held as an
enemy all those who were lawless and backed every man who believed in law
and order and good government.
Father Curtin was forever fighting for civic betterments. There was hardly
a single month in his Waterbury life in which he was not struggling for the open-
ing of a street, the building of new sewers, the improvement of fire-fighting
facilities, both within and without his parish. He was a lover of the beautiful
and pleaded for sightly lawns and gardens. On this subject he wrote and even
preached. He was constantly using the papers for the advocacy of some much-
needed civic betterment, and was never afraid to express his opinions over his
own name.
In his own parish he started societies for young men. He encouraged his
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 135
"lads"' to go to night school, to acquire a foundation for sound business methods.
In a word, he became a great moral power in the community, — perhaps one of
the greatest in its history.
He died after thirty-seven years of labor as a Catholic clergyman on June
[8, i Mi 7. at the rectory on Baldwin Street.
Father Curtin was horn in New Britain, April 1, 1856. He was educated in
St. Mary's Parochial School in that city, from which he was graduated in 1872.
In the fall of the same year he entered Holy Cross College and was graduated
in 1877. lie entered the Grand Seminary at Montreal in the same year, and
was ordained by the Most Rev. MonsignOr Fabre, archbishop of Montreal, on
I )ecember 18. 1880.
His first appointment in this diocese was as assistant to Rev. J. T. McMahon,
pastor of St. Mary's Church and missions at East Hartford. On November 25,
[882, he was appointed assistant to Rev. J. J. Furlong of St. Bernard's Church
and missions of Rockville. He was appointed pastor of St. Francis Xavier's
Church and missions in Xew Milford. and on December 3, 1895, ne came to St.
Francis Xavier's Church of Waterbury, where he remained until his death.
Father Curtin was a man of superior mental ability and of a genial and
friendly disposition. At Holy Cross College he was a brilliant student and went
through the curriculum of seven years in six. He was the manager of the first
baseball team that ever represented Holy Cross and took great pride in follow-
ing up the success of the college in athletics. He received the degree of B. A.
at Holy Cross College, and the degree of S. T. B. at the Grand Seminary in
Montreal.
He said his first mass in Waterbury in the Auditorium, in which place the
members of bis congregation first gathered. He then built the church on Wash-
ington Street, which is now known as Xaverien Hall. In 1905, he built the
present church of St. Francis Xavier. Under his care the parish grew from a
mere handful of people to the present size, which has a congregation of over
three thousand people.
m'givney day
On Tune 8, 1901, the Knights of Columbus of Greater New York made a
pilgrimage to Waterbury to celebrate high mass in honor of the late Father
Michael J. McGivney, founder of the order. Father William J. Slocum delivered
the sermon of the day. At its close the pilgrims conducted a service at the grave
of Father McGivney in St. Joseph's Cemetery.
The order was founded at New Haven in 1882, while Father McGivney. who
wns a native of Waterbury. was stationed in that city. It was the solution of
the problem of establishing a national beneficiary organization which would work
in conformitv with the levels of the Roman Catholic Church. It was on April 27,
[885, when the total membership of the order was still less than a thousand
that Waterbury Catholics organized Sheridan Council largely as a tribute to the
founder, who was one of the notable priests produced by the Immaculate Con-
ception Parish.
A feature of the pilgrimage was the presence of two members of the Mc-
I rivney family. Rev. John J. and Rev. P. J. McGivney. both of whom spoke on
the order of the Knights of Columbus.
CHAPTER X
CIVIC ARCHITECTURE OF A QUARTER CENTURY
BUCKINGHAM BUILDING, UNION DEPOT, CITY HALL, CHASE OFFICE BUILDING AND
WATERBURY CLUB LINCOLN BUILDING PLANNED BY FAMOUS NEW YORK ARCHI-
TECTS COURTHOUSE PLANNED BY WILFRED E. GRIGGS, ONE OF MOST BEAUTIFUL
STRUCTURES IN NEW ENGLAND FINE BUSINESS BLOCKS AND RESIDENCES, SUPERB
WORK OF LOCAL ARCHITECTS — THE VARIOUS ARCHITECTURAL PERIODS AND BUILD-
INGS THAT ILLUSTRATE THEM — WATERBURY's HOUSING PROBLEM.
Waterbury is ideally located for architectural effects. Its wooded hills, rising
gradually from a wide basin, have given its home builders and designers oppor-
tunities of which they were not slow to take advantage. The effort in the last
quarter century to make it a city beautiful has been thoroughly co-operative in
the business section as well. There has never been any serious opposition to
the widening of important thoroughfares, such as Bank and Grand streets, nor
to the erection of city buildings of which its people may well be proud. No
finer architectural effects can be found in New England than the present City
Hall or the Waterbury Hospital, designed on classical lines by Robert Bacon
of New York, which in its Parthenon-like facade brings out ideally the beauties
of the strikingly effective location.
Not alone have its own architects risen to the occasion, but they have been
ably assisted by the best talent in America.
McKim, Mead & White, the architects of some of the greatest buildings in
America, planned the Union Station of the New Haven Railroad, a fine Italian
Renaissance effect with a tower following the famous Campanile in Siena, Italy.
The Buckingham Block, on Grand and Bank streets, was also designed by this
famous firm.
Of outside work, either finished or under way, the buildings designed by
Cass Gilbert of New York will add most to the architectural beauty of Water-
bury. The first of these is, of course, the new City Hall on Grand Street, a
structure planned along Colonial lines. The others which are now under way are
the Chase office building at Grand and Leavenworth streets, and the new
Waterbury Club. In both of these structures, as with the City Hall, Mr. Gilbert
is giving Waterbury buildings that will class with the finest in America. In the
Chase office building, he has conformed to a great extent to the general lines of
the City Hall Building on the opposite side of the street. Its effect is to be
colonial. It will be four stories, with a 243-foot frontage on Grand Street and
98 on Church and Leavenworth streets. The exterior will be of limestone and
granite construction, with high fluted columns. The interior will be largely
marble trim. The Waterbury Club Building is also Colonial in style.
The Lincoln Building, on Field Street opposite the City Hall, constructed for
the United Charities and recently occupied, was also planned by Cass Gilbert.
The American Brass Company's massive office building, completed in 1913,
was built from plans made by Trowbridge & Livingston of New York. It is of
136
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 137
brick and steel construction, fireproof throughout, and its long, high corridor with
its domed center is an exceedingly artistic effect. The building is constructed on
a partial crescent.
But the list of outside architects who have had a hand in the planning of
business blocks, churches, schools and houses in Waterbury is a long one, and
will appear as the article progresses. To local architects the greatest credit is
due, for most of its structures are home products in which its citizens take a
commendable pride.
The work of Wilfred E. Griggs and of Theodore B. Peck is especially notable.
These may be termed the deans of the profession in Waterbury, and their work
adorns not alone the business and residence sections of this city, but is in evidence
in the suburban districts in the form of attractive country homes.
Perhaps the most pretentious single building is the courthouse on Kendrick
Street, from the plans of Wilfred E. Griggs,, and completed in 1905. Its
general style is renaissance, and its pillars give it a majestic appearance. As a
matter of fact, it needs a wider street to bring out its many architectural beauties.
In the same year he planned the five-story Elton Hotel, which replaced the old
Scovill home, one of the best illustrations of Colonial architecture in the city.
It is to be regretted that the building was not moved to another location.
The largest and finest equipped office structure in Waterbury is the Lilley
Building, eight stories high. This was completed July 1, 191 2, and is of fireproof
construction, with reinforced concrete floors and partitions of gypsum blocks.
Its cost was approximately a quarter of a million. It contains 2 large stores
and 150 offices, and with its double electric elevator service is the most modern
of the buildings in its class in W T aterbury. This also is from the plans of Mr.
Griggs.
The Masonic Temple, completed in 191 1, the four-story Boys' Club on Cottage
Place, built in 1901, the Odd Fellows' Hall, dedicated in 1895, and built on
Venetian Gothic lines, the Young Men's Christian Association, opened in 1S92,
which was a beautiful addition to the architecture of the Green, and the
Mattatuck Historical Society Museum are among the public buildings of which
plans were furnished by Mr. Griggs.
To Theodore B. Peck also belongs the credit of much of the best architectural
work in Waterbury. Apothecaries' Hall, which was opened in 1894, is still one
of the finest of the city's business blocks. It is ideally located, with its frontage
at the junction of South Main and Bank streets, the wide open space bringing
out all the beauties of Mr. Peck's plans. Though built in the earlier period of
this quarter century, it is as impressive as any of those of more recent construction.
The Waterbury American Building on Grand Street, built in the same
period, is from the plans of Mr. Peck. It was a matter of congratulation that it
went through the conflagration of 1902 with but comparatively little damage.
Perhaps the finest examples of the work of Mr. Peck in Waterbury are the
Waterbury Industrial School Building on Central Avenue and the Citizens Na-
tional Bank Building facing on the Green.
Another of his effective designs is that made for the Schlegel home on Clowes
Terrace, which has just been completed. This is one of the best illustrations of
Romanesque architecture in New England. To this should also be added the
beautiful Colonial home built by Mr. Peck for C. E. Spencer, Jr., on the Middle-
bury Road, and recently occupied.
Joseph A. Jackson, now of New York, but for years a Waterbury architect,
has done much fine work here, particularly in the matter of church and school
construction. From his plans are the convents of Notre Dame and St. Mary,
138 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
St. Patrick's Hall, the Crosby High School and the Bank and Clay street schools.
He drew the plans for some of the finest blocks built in the city since the fire,
including the Jones-Morgan Building, opened in 1903, the Republican Block on
Grand Street, built in 1907, the Carroll at Willow and Pine streets, one of Water-
bury 's finest apartment houses, the Aldrich at 287-291 North Main Street, the
judd Block, 158-160 Grand Street, built since the fire, the Manufacturers' National
Bank Building, built in 1896, and the Moriarty Building, 161-167 East Main Street,
built after the fire.
The work of E. E. Benedict, of Freney & Jackson, of Lewis A. Walsh, of
Joseph T. Smith, of C. Jerome Bailey, is everywhere in evidence, and has added
much to the architectural beauty of the city.
The last twenty-five years have witnessed what may be termed the trans-
formation of the business section of the city. Growth had much to do with this,
for with added population came the need of many extensions. But the fire of 1902
was by no means an insignificant factor in the architectural regeneration of the city.
To this calamity W r aterbury owes the uniformity which marks its blocks in the
sections which were rebuilt. Aside from those already mentioned, there were
built in 1903 such blocks as the Commercial Building, 110-112 Bank Street, built
for W. LI. Camp, and planned by Griggs ; the Cowell-Guilfoile Building, 186-196
( J rand Street, from plans by Joseph T. Smith ; the Holmes Building, 132-136 Grand
Street, occupied in 1904; the Meigs Building, 105-109 Bank Street; the Mullings
and Piatt buildings, 83-103 Bank Street, built from the plans of a Boston firm.
One of the latest additions to the business blocks of Waterbury is the Democrat
I'.uilding at Grand and Canal streets, planned by Joseph T. Smith, which was com-
pleted in 1916. The Standard Building, 14-20 North Main Street, which was built
from the plans by Griggs in 1912, is now to be completely remodeled for occupancy
next year by the Mohican Company.
The Telephone Building, at 18 Leavenworth Street, was occupied in 1914 and
is from plans made by the company in its New York office.
One of the most artistic of the business homes of Waterbury is the building
at the corner of West Main and Leavenworth streets, "built for the Colonial Trust
Company from plans by Davis & Brooks of Hartford. It is not a large structure,
but thoroughly artistic and makes a valuable addition to the architecture at the
Center.
The Barlow, 59-67 Grand Street, built from plans by Griggs, was put up in
1909. The Boston Furniture Company Block, at South Main and Scovill streets, is
from plans by Theodore B. Peck and is one of the best of the newer business build-
ings of Waterbury. The Capitol Building, 30-34 North Main Street, from plans
by C. Jerome Bailey, is an effective piece of business architecture. The Hamp-
son Building. 91-99 West Main Street, which is from plans by Griggs, and one
of the largest business blocks in the city, was built in 19 10. The Truman S. Lewis
block, 25-31 West Main Street, from the plans of Mr. Griggs, was erected in 1903.
Russell's Block, 149-55 B ar >k Street, from the plans of Joseph T. Smith, is also
(if comparatively recent construction.
Aside from the Elton Hotel, Waterbury still lacks pretentious hotel structures.
Both the Kingsbury and Hodson buildings are quite good looking edifices, but have
been built upon older structures, a remodeling which can never bring out the best
in architecture.
Waterbury is fortunate in having some of the finest apartment buildings in New
England. The Carroll and the Carrolton on Willow Street, from plans by Joseph
T. Jackson, were put up in 1906 and 1907, and are model structures of this class.
So is The Buckingham, 292 West Main Street, which is from plans by Griggs.
THE DEMOCRAT AXI) THE BARLOW BUILDINGS, WATKRIU'RY
PART OF "BANKERS' ROW," SHOWING THE BOLMES BUILDING, WATERBUR1
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 139
Among" other apartment buildings that are worthy of notice and that have added
to the architectural beauty of Waterbury may be mentioned the Aldrich, 287-291
North Main Street, from plans by Joseph T. Jackson ; the Albemarle, from plans
by Griggs; Bergin's Block, 246-256 East Main Street, and the l'.olan, 50-52 Mitchell
Avenue, both from plans by Freney & Jackson; the Frederick, 70-80 Easl Main
Street, from plans by Theodore B. Peck; the I lendrieken. 317 North Main Street,
from plans by Joseph T. Smith; the Hitchcock, [64 West Main Street, and the
Northrop. [82 West Main Street, from plans by Griggs; the Victoria, 278 East
Main Street ; the Royal. 41 ( )ooke Street, and the Westerly, [33 West Main Street.
It is quite certain now that the next year will see the completion of the new
Y. M. C A. Building on the site of the old Baptist Church on Grand Street. This
will make that thoroughfare a veritable civic center for Waterbury.
There are two public buildings, — the Bronson Library and the Postoffice,-^-
which come into this quarter century period. The Bronson Library was com-
pleted, in August, [894, and is from plans by Cady, Berg & See, of New York.
It is of brick, terra cotta and tile construction, and in style Italian Renaissance.
Its most beautiful feature is unquestionably its great, overhanging main cornice
The Postoffice is modeled on the artistic plan followed by the Government in the
construction of these buildings everywhere. It was completed and occupied in
1 1 .04.
Roughly estimated, there have been added to Waterbury factories in the past
twenty-five years buildings that are valued conservatively by the manufacturers
themselves at about fifty million dollars. The strong tendency here in the past few
years has been to reinforced concrete, although most of the building has been what
may be termed of slow-burning construction, which means heavy plank floors,
leaving few places where fire can catch. Some of the Chase, the American Brass,
and the newer Scovill buildings are of reinforced concrete.
A visit to the factory districts shows a vast change in the matter of construc-
tion in a decade. The older buildings are largely brick ; the newer ones are mostly
steel sash and glass. The Chase Metal Works, the Chase Rolling Mills and the
Waterbury Manufacturing Co., which comprise the Chase interests, have expended
several million dollars Jn improvements during the past few years. The American
I'.rass Co. has erected practically all of its Waterbury buildings, remodeling only
a few of the old ones, in the past twelve years.
Perhaps the greatest amount of construction was done at the Scovill works,
and the additions to buildings during the war period alone have amounted to sev-
eral millions. This work has been in charge of Hugh L. Thompson, civil engineer.
The Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Co. has made big improvements
and is building some model factories as additions to its equipment now. A list of
those companies that have built or are building extensive additions will read almost
like a list of the factories of Waterbury. Thus, the Bristol Co., at Platts Mills,
has added one or more buildings every year for a decade. The Waterbury Bat-
ten ( o., Blake & Johnson. Steele & Johnson, the American Mills Co.. the Amer-
ican Pin Co., the Rowbottom Machine Co., the Waterbury Button Co.. the Water-
bury Buckle Co.. Smith & Griggs, the Pilling Brass Co.. Berbecker & Rowland
Mfg. Co., Waterville. the Manufacturers Foundry Co.. Plume & Atwood Mfg.
1 n.. are among those who have built extensively along modern factory lines dur-
ing the past few years.
In church architecture. Waterbury has been exceptionally fortunate. Its most
recent addition, the Baptist Church, which is from plans by Architect Cramer of
Xew York, is classical in style, and entirely different from the Gothic effect which
prevails so largely in the construction of church buildings. St. Anne's and St.
140 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Patrick's are both pure Gothic. The Methodist Church, designed by George Kel-
ler of Hartford, is severely Gothic. The Italian Church, on South Main Street,
Our Lady of Lourdes, is a pure Italian Renaissance, and from the plans of Joseph
A. Jackson of New York. St. John's and Trinity, of the Episcopal churches, are
pure Gothic. The First Church Congregational is Victorian Gothic, and the Sec-
ond Church Congregational is Romanesque. In practically all the other churches
Gothic lines have been followed.
Waterbury has many beautiful homes and they have followed, as in all Amer-
ican cities, the trend of each particular architectural period. Thus, twenty-five
years ago, the Queen Anne style prevailed. Later, came the Colonial ; from that
the cities passed into a period of what is known as half-timbered construction;
then followed stucco houses, and now home building is going back to Colonial
style. There was never much bungalow construction in Waterbury, for this pre-
supposes level land and large acreages.
It is a difficult matter to pick out the beautiful homes that have gone up in
the last twenty-five years as illustrations to typify periods, for while only one or
two can be mentioned, many deserve really elaborate notices. This is true on
practically all the good residence streets, such as the Boulevard, Central Avenue,
Prospect Street, Holmes Avenue, Grove Street, Woodlawn Terrace, Hillside Ave-
nue, Euclid Avenue, Clowes Terrace, upper Willow Street, Linden Street. There
are also many beautiful homes in Bunker Hill, in Overlook and at Fairlawn Manor.
Of the Queen Anne style cottages that were built in the first period of this
quarter-century, the most typical is perhaps the Charles Benedict house, which
afterwards became the Charles Miller House. Another is the home now occupied
by R. F. Griggs, but erected originally for Mrs. Mary Mitchell. Another is the
home of the late Nelson J. Welton. All of these are on Hillside Avenue, and in
their day were among the most prominent houses in Waterbury. The old Doctor
Rodman home, on North Main Street, should be included in this list.
Of the half-timber construction, the best illustration is the Frisbie home at
Grove and Prospect streets, planned by Davis & Brooks of Hartford. The home
of Hugh L. Thompson on Pine Street, planned by the same architects, and the
Charles Granniss home on Pine Street, are other good examples of this style of
architecture.
Of stucco houses there are many illustrations and some of very recent con-
struction. The Sperry home, built by Davis & Brooks of Hartford, on Bucking-
ham Street, and the Seeley home, on Buckingham and Pine, also from plans by
Davis & Brooks, are good illustrations of this style of architecture. So is the
Arthur R. Kimball home, on Grove Street, and that of Miss Florentine E. Hay-
den, on Pine Street, and that built by the late Mrs. Edwin Hayden on the same
street.
The Colonial period dates forward and back. In fact, some of the best homes
that are now going up are of this style of architecture. The residence being built
for Miss Martha Driggs, on Prospect Street, from plans by Murphy & Dana, New
York, is an excellent illustration of this style. The Alfred Hart Colonial Home,
on Buckingham Street, just about completed, and which is from plans by Davis &
Brooks, is a fine illustration of the modern application of this ancient American
style of architecture. So is the H. L. Wade home, on Prospect Street, from plans
by Griggs, and the Gilman C. Hill home, on the corner of Hillside Avenue and
Pine Street, and that of John Kellogg, corner of Pine and Buckingham. The
Paul D. Hamilton home, on Woodlawn Terrace, built a year ago, is an excellent
example of the Colonial type of house architecture. It was planned by Wilfred
E. Griggs.
THE LEAVENWORTH SPERRY RESIDENCE, WATERBURY
RESIDENCE OF JOHN II. loss, BILLSIDE AVENUE, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 141
One of the most beautiful residences now being added to the long list of
Waterbury's charming homes is that which is being constructed from plans by
Taylor & Levy of New York for Elton YVayland, on Woodlawn Terrace.
This is a brick house, built in the English Gothic style. Two beautiful homes
designed by Johannes of New York are being built on Buckingham Street for
John H. Goss. These two homes are on the block which contains the beautiful
Goss residence, built about ten years ago in the Elizabethan style.
Another line home which is now going up on Woodlawn Terrace is that planned
by Griggs for Truman S. Lewis. This is in Renaissance style and easily one of
the most attractive homes in Waterbury.
Rose Hill Cottage, on Prospect Street, the Irving H. Chase home, is still one
of the show places of Waterbury. It was erected at a time when they built largely
for comfort and paid little attention to names. It would therefore be difficult to
designate it as illustrating any particular style of architecture, but it remains one
of the beautiful homes of Waterbury.
There are not many buildings in the city built with the old tile roof and
shingles. The Frederick S. Chase home, on Grove Street, next to the Kimball
home, is a good illustration of this, and shows how effectively this little-used style
of architecture responds to practical use.
The home of Miss Helen Chase, on Grove Street, designed by Cram, Goodyear
and Ferguson of New York, is a typical English country house. The home of
W. S. R. Wake, at the upper end of Willow Street, is also built largely on this
English country home style, and with its large acreage is one of the real residence
attractions of the city.
The C. P. Goss home, designed by Theodore B. Peck, and located at the corner
of Hillside Avenue and Pine, is another of these old country home structures
which look as cosy from the outside as they are on the inside.
waterbury's housing problem
The housing problem has been perhaps the most important economic outcome
of the war period. Soon after the beginning of hostilities, with the enormous
munition orders and the vast increases in Waterbury's factory equipments, the
tremendous growth and expansion of the city soon began to manifest itself in the
lack of suitable and adequate housing facilities, especially for the inflowing foreign
population. The supply of vacant houses and living quarters was quickly ex-
hausted, thereby multiplying the difficulties and hardships already prevalent in the
congested districts.
These serious conditions immediately aroused several of the leading industrial
organizations to activity, which resulted in the formulation of comprehensive plans
and means for relieving the condition by construction of workmen's houses.
The first meeting of those interested in providing a more adequate supply of
suitable houses for workingmen in Waterbury was held on Thursday evening,
February 10, 1916. It had already been made evident that the pressing need just
at present was a greatly increased supply of low-priced houses or apartments for
Waterbury workingmen. Therefore, it was decided that the main effort of the
committee should be exerted towards this end.
At that meeting, at the suggestion of the heads of some of the largest plants
in the city. John Nolen, of Cambridge, Mass., submitted an outline as a proposed
general method of procedure in the investigation.
On February 14, 1916, Mayor Scully appointed the following members of the
Waterbury housing committee : E. S. Hunt, Eugene Kerner, R. A. Cairns, F. S.
142 VVATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Chase, J. P. Elton, John H. Goss. Mr. Hunt was made chairman and Mr. Kerner
secretary. At Mr. Nolen's request, this committee sent out a questionaire, to which
there was a general response. This gave a basis of existing conditions.
In the Nolen report, the recommendation was made that the main effort be put
upon providing single-family dwellings for Class A, that is, for the family whose
weekly income exceeds its weekly expenses by an amount sufficient to enable it,
within a reasonable period, to become the owner of its home. This family, in
Mr. Nolen's opinion, was best provided for in the single family detached or the
double semi-detached house, but the building operation was not to be confined to
any one type of house. In fact, because of the difference in taste and personal
preference, all the approved types submitted should be used. But some single-
family houses completely detached, on lots not less than 50 by 100, should be
included in the main. Class A should be provided for in outlying sections where
the laying out of land and the building operation could be sufficiently large to
secure the advantages of wholesale contracts, efficient management and careful
planning of the area by a landscape architect along advanced garden suburb lines.
He also recommended that the best methods of providing for Class B, that is,
for the family that has acquired title to a building lot, but has not yet built upon
it, is to do everything that the committee can do to remove the obstacles:
(A) That suitable house plans be obtained through an architectural competition
for which liberal prizes should be offered.
(B) That money be made more readily available through the organization of
co-operative banks or building and loan associations.
(C) That the advantages of other buildings that will be undertaken for Class A
should be shared with Class B. The extent of this building would in itself stimu-
late interest and probably enable the committee to give the lot owner a building
at a lower contract than would otherwise be possible. The houses in Class B will
be almost entirely in partly built-up sections.
He further recommended that provision for Class C, that is, for the family
whose weekly expenses practically equal its weekly income, be made partly by
renting the other house in the double house unit owned by a family in Class A,
partly by building for rent groups of houses of the types common in Philadelphia
and well-illustrated by the Octavia Hill Association, and by the Improved Hous-
ing Co. of New Haven, and by the cottage flat of the Toronto Housing Co., Ltd.,
and partly by tenements that will be vacated when better houses become avail-
able.
The movement languished for some months, but later the heads of the fac-
tories personally took up the question of proper housing, and important develop-
ments followed. In the summer of 1916, two such developments were initiated
and ordered under construction by the Scovill Mfg. Co. and the American Brass
Company. These housing developments have already been completed and are
now in successful operation and use, being occupied by families who are well satis-
fied and greatly delighted in having secured, at moderate cost, dwellings which
represent, and are so considered by experts, the best effort in the field of economic
housing.
Of the several developments carried out by the industries above referred to,
the operation conducted by the Scovill Mfg. Co., which consists of one-family
brick attached houses, represents both structurally and architecturally an ideal
type of workmen's dwellings.
In July, 1916, the W. G. Lynch Realty Co. was brought here for consultation
with John H. Goss of the Scovill Manufacturing Co., resulting subsequently in
the submission of plans for the erection of fifty dwellings of a type known as a
six-room one-family house.
THK SCHLKfiKL KKSIDKXCK. WATKKBl'KY
RESIDENI E OF JOHN BOOTH BURRALL, CHURCH STREET, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 143
In August, 1916, ground was broken on an easily-accessible tract of land owned
by the Scovill Manufacturing Co. At the outset a group of five houses was imme-
diately constructed and sold to the employees of the company. At the same time
efforts were directed toward the immediate completion of one 'of these buildings,
so as to exhibit the structure as a sample house, with the result that applications
for these houses became so numerous that the Scovill Manufacturing Co. ordered
the erection of 137 dwellings in all.
Although these dwellings were erected in rows covering several blocks, a most
pleasing effect was created by breaking the monotony of the houses through vary-
ing the architecture of the fronts in groups of from two to four dwellings. In
exterior design and treatment, these groups include the Dutch, English, Italian
and Colonial types, and are extremely pleasing in appearance. In many instances
front elevations were also modified, as circumstances and economic practice per-
mitted, by altering the lines of the masonry and porches, careful study being given
likewise to creating effective color schemes in order to emphasize the various
styles of architecture of the groups. In this manner the severity of the long,
straight lines of the buildings was broken and made to harmonize with the natural
contour of the land and grades of adjacent streets.
The houses in the Scovill development are built on standard size street blocks,
having a width of 200 feet from street to street. This space is sub-divided and
utilized as follows : An area of 24 feet in depth is reserved in front of the dwell-
ings adjacent to the street, the houses measuring 32 feet in depth with a 20-foot
courtyard in the rear and a 10-foot service alley for commercial purposes, and a
1 4- foot space reserved for park and playground purposes.
The houses measure 16 feet between the centers of party walls and 32 feet in
depth. The buildings are constructed of brick masonry, erected on substantial
concrete foundations supported by massive concrete footings.
The area in front of the dwellings was filled in for the purpose of creating a
terraced space in front of each house. These terraces are, in every instance, neatly
regulated and graded, and conform to the grade of the adjacent streets.
At the rear of each house a door opens directly into the basement at the grade
of the courtyard. The basements contain hot air furnaces, hot water boiler, gas
hot water heater, coal bins, and stationary wash tubs, and also ample storage space.
The basement floors are cemented and the concrete walls are whitewashed. In
fact, these basements are so light, dry and airy that in many cases they are being
used as summer kitchens. The cellar can also be entered from the kitchen.
The kitchen contains many facilities, such as gas stove and pantry, sink and
hot and cold water.
The house contains six rooms and bath. Every room opens either to the front
or to the rear and is provided with large windows. All rooms have direct ventila-
tion, the bathroom being lighted and ventilated by large overhead ventilating sky-
lights.
The houses are electric lighted throughout, with indirect lighting fixtures in
dining and living rooms. Electric light wires run in conduits for service for the
entire development, running through the foundations along the rear of each row
inside the foundation walls, each house having its own outlet. Telephone conduits
run in the same manner along the front of each cellar, with separate outlets for
each house.
The first fifty houses were sold at $3,000 each. The next twenty were sold at
$3,600. The material for the first fifty houses was bought when the contract was
placed, but when the contract was increased, the prices of material had advanced.
Waterbury is an expensive city to build in, however, because of its hilly con-
144 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
tours and rocky soil with water pockets, frequently producing swampy conditions.
Even with present prices of materials, this house, slightly modified, should be pro-
duced for approximately two thousand five hundred dollars, wherever expensive
blasting, filling, excavating and underdrainage can be avoided.
The housing development undertaken by the American Brass Co. differs ma-
terially from that of the Scovill development, the American Brass Co.'s being pat-
terned after a high class residence park, and on a scale which in every respect
meets with the requirements of their employees.
Briefly described, their development encompasses a tract or land, about twelve
acres, in the eastern section of the city, two miles from the main center. Improve-
ments were undertaken in September, 1916, which consisted at first of regulating
and grading the street system after a carefully designed plan which preserved the
natural features of the property, at the same time creating a residence park effect.
The main entrance to the property is at East Main Street, near Mad River,
which flows through a part of the property. The entire property contains approx-
imately eighty-five building sites, the average dimensions of which are 50 by 100
feet.
The engineering features throughout the entire property are carefully designed
and substantially executed. The tract is provided with all improvements, such as
gas, city water supply, sewerage, electric lighting for streets and houses, well
regulated and graded streets, park and playground reservation, surface water
drainage, and a private park along the Mad River, for the use of the residents.
Sidewalks and well-kept lawns are also provided.
The first group of buildings erected on the premises consisted of twenty frame
dwellings, so spaced as to provide ample area in front of each dwelling to the
street lines.
The average dwelling is about 25 by 23 feet, and contains a living room, dining
room and kitchen on the first floor, and three bedrooms on the second floor, with
bathroom.
The foundations of these structures are of first-class concrete masonry, on
footings of the same material. The cellar floors are concreted and cemented, and
the cellars may be entered from the inside and outside of the dwellings.
Immediately prior to the completion of the first group of twenty dwellings, the
American Brass Company decided to erect eight additional structures, but of a
type superior in some respects to those in the first group.
Of the thirty dwellings erected by the company under this housing project,
practically all have been sold, and in some instances, selections were made by the
employees before the structures were placed on sale. The families occupying
these houses speak very highly of them, and are well satisfied and contented with
their purchases.
The Chase Metal Works have thus far constructed ten model houses, much on
the plan of the Scovill buildings, and this is to be greatly increased in the near
future.
The Oakville Company has also now started with a group of ten model houses,
which is to be greatly extended next spring.
The Waterbury Tool Company, under the personal direction of its president,
Horace G. Hoadley, has erected at one end of its large holdings nine model houses,
which are rented to employees. A street has been made and five of these homes
are on one side, four on the other. Two of them are five-room and the others
six- room cottages. They are modern in every respect and make ideal homes at
nominal rents. The company has also erected two double houses, in the Bunker
Hill section. These are for four families. The twin houses have twelve and
■
WEST MAIN STREET. FRONT OF HODSOX'K, WATERBURY
WEST .MAIN STREET ARCHITECTURE, WATERBURY
From left to right: Colonial Trust Company; Sampson and Lilley Buildings.
Viewed from the green.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 145
fourteen rooms, respectively, making two six-room dwellings and two seven-room
dwellings.
Aside from the splendid work done by the larger manufacturers in the way of
improving housing conditions, there has been a decided growth in the way of home
construction in all parts of the city, particularly in the eastern and northwestern
sections.
In 1914 the building record shows permits taken out totaling in value $1,800,-
000. Of these 55 were for frame tenement houses, each for three or more fami-
lies. These provided for over twelve hundred people. In addition there were 70
frame and 8 brick buildings erected.
In 191 5 the total permits numbered 748, and the value of buildings erected
increased to $2,600,350. Sixty-four were buildings erected to house from two
to six families each, and 105 separate dwellings made up the records of home
building for that year.
In 1916 the record shows 1,106 permits, value $4,270,000. Of these permits
the bulk was for factory construction. The number of frame tenements built for
three or more families was 91. The number of buildings for two or more families
was 8, and the number of separate frame dwellings was 217.
For 1917 the record shows the same proportionate gain and up to November
1st the permits for dwellings and tenements issued equaled or very nearly equaled
the total of 1916.
Vol. I— 10
CHAPTER XI
BANKING AND INSURANCE
CAPITAL AND SURPLUS OF ALL WATERBURY BANKS — DEPOSITS — A FIVE YEAR
RECORD OF CLEARINGS THE YEAR I916 A BANNER PERIOD FOR DEPOSITORS IN
SAVINGS INSTITUTIONS— MONEY LARGELY INVESTED IN MORTGAGES ON WATER-
BURY REAL ESTATE HISTORY OF ALL THE BANKS AND TRUST COMPANIES LIST
OF OFFICIALS, PAST AND PRESENT — RECENT INSURANCE HISTORY.
In 1892 there were in Waterbury seven banks and these, including the savings
institutions, had a banking capital of $1,350,000. For a town which by the census
of 1890 had a population of less than thirty thousand, this was a splendid show-
ing, and in the total deposits of between $6,000,000 and $7,000,000 reflected the
growing industrial wealth of the community.
From the reports issued by the national banks and trust companies of Water-
bury in the summer of 1917 and by the savings banks on October 1, 1916 (the
date of the last annual report to the State Banking Department), it is found that
the total deposits in the banks of Waterbury are now $44,300,748.50. The capital
stock and surplus of the national banks and trust companies, aside from the
exclusive savings banks, is approximately three million dollars. Of this $1,168,-
451.20 represents the surplus.
In publishing these figures it is perhaps well to add that they do not represent
the full amount of what may be termed Waterbury deposits. As a matter of
fact, there are today in Waterbury several concerns whose business is so extensive
as to compel the additional use of New York banks for purposes of deposit and
for draft facilities. It is utterly impossible to ascertain even approximately the
volume of this business, some bankers placing it at 10 per cent of the totals for
Waterbury commercial banks, others as high as 25 per cent.
The capital and surplus of national banks and trust companies are as follows :
Capital and Surplus.
Waterbury National Bank $ 900,000.00
Colonial Trust Co 935,451.20
Citizens National Bank 450.000-.00
Manufacturers National Bank 300,000.00
Merchants Trust Co 188,000.00
Waterbury Trust Co -55»43 T -35
Total $3,028,882.55
Deposits of all banks of Waterbury at dates given above are as follows :
DEPOSITS OF WATERBURY BANKS, I917
(Savings Banks, October i, 1916)
Waterbury Savings Bank $10,176,870.80
Dime Savings Bank 7.107,324.24
146
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 147
Colonial Trust Co 7,033,538.09
( itizens National Bank 5,000,000.00
Manufacturers National Bank : 4,060,445.09
Waterbury National Bank 3,883,983.10
Waterbury Trust Co 3,102,329.44
West Side Savings Bank 2,143,766.34
Merchants Trust Co 1,792,491.40
Total $44,300,748.50
The savings bank deposits on October 1, 1917, were: Waterbury Savings Bank.
$10,091,552.04; Dime Savings Bank, $7,636,444.20; West Side Savings Bank,
$2,667,732.41.
THE WATERBURV CLEARING HOUSE
It is now five years since the Waterbury Clearing House was established by
the commercial banks. Its work is done in each bank, alternately for two months.
At present the manager of the Clearing House is Lew r is S. Reed, vice president of
{he Manufacturers National Bank.
The table of clearings which follows does not reflect the total business cleared
monthly by the banks of Waterbury, for there is still much of the business done
by each bank by the old self-clearing method.
The Clearing House made its first report on March 31, 19 12, and the record
by months, showing comparative figures, up to March 1, 1917, is as follows:
1912-1913 1913-1914 1914-1915 1915-1916 [916-1917
March $ 3,056,600 $ 3,921,700 $ 4,048,500 $ 4,529,400 $ 7,442,300
April 3.976,500 4.487,400 4,781,300 5,065,900 8,305,200
May 4.240,600 4,339,600 4,427,200 5,303,500 9,300,700
June 4,103,500 4,387,300 4,907,400 6,145,700 9,148,800
July 3.899,200 4.156,900 4,633,500 6,192,000 9,091,800
August 34g<;,7oo 3,802,300 3,616,800 5,331,400 7,726,200
September.... 3,295,500 3,923,100 3,566,600 5.005,300 8.333,100
October 4,144,900 4,721,300 4,358,200 6,675,900 9,550,600
November .... 4,156,800 3,986,700 3.953.300 <>. 099,700 9,950,100
December .... 3,766,000 4,273,700 4,565,500 7,336,800 10,013,700
January 4,391,800 4,588,300 4,995,700 8,424,900 11,174,700
February 3,650,800 3,843,000 4,134,400 6,805,800 8,807,600
$46,181,900 $50,431,300 S51.988.400 $74,116,300 $108,844,800
The bankers of Waterbury, largely through the Clearing House Association,
but with the close co-operation of the savings banks, organized the work of selling
Waterbury 's quotas for both the first and second Liberty Loans with such success
that in both instances the city exceeded its quota.
THE SAVINGS BANKS
It is in the records made by the savings banks of Waterbury that the prosperity
of the city is most clearly reflected. The year [916 was the banner period m the
history of the city, and the figures which follow are little short of phenomenal in
the matter of growth. The year 1917 showed a continuing increase, both in the
net increase of depositors and in the amount of deposits, hut the Liberty Loans
148
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
had their effect here, as well as elsewhere, in diverting a considerable amount of
savings into that patriotic channel.
The following table compiled from the state report of date October I, 1916,
are illuminating on the savings bank records of this phenomenal year. To make
an accurate total there should be added like records from the savings department
of the Manufacturers National, from which, as it is under federal control, no
statement of purely savings deposits is available. Its savings accounts number
about seven thousand.
Number of
accounts opened Number of
October, 1915 accounts closed Net
to October, 1916 same period Gain
Dime Savings Bank 5, 2 76 2,990 2,286
Waterbury Savings Bank 4,815 1,882 2,933
West Side Savings Bank 2,247 847 1,400
Waterbury Trust Co. (Savings Dept.) 1,525 600 925
Merchants Trust Co. (Savings Dept.) 745 296 449
Amount
deposited Amount
October, 191 5, withdrawn Net increase
to October, 191 6 same period in deposits
Dime Savings Bank $2,711,781.78 $1,594,265.95 $1,117,515.83
Waterbury Savings Bank 3,367,621.83 1,820,780.98 1,546,831.20
West Side Savings Bank 1,185,974.98 590,894.58 595,080.40
Waterbury Trust (Savings) 947,705.25 488,097.69 459,607.56
Merchants Trust (Savings) 622,152.81 235,748.23 386,404.23
$8,835,236.65 $4,729,787.43 $4,105,449.22
The amounts deposited include interest credited for the year.
Number of
depositors
having less
than $1,000 Amount
Dime Savings Bank 1 7,369 $2,838,494.43
Waterbury Savings Bank. 12,983 3,148,146.15
West Side Savings Bank 4,659 1,010,995.23
Waterbury Trust (Savings) 2,383 462,468.34
Merchants Trust (Savings) L937 298,550.90
39,331 $7,758,655-05
Number of
depositors
having $1,000
to $2,000 Amount
Dime Savings Bank T-383 $1,794,477.90
Waterbury Savings Bank !<795 2,406,714.28
West Side Savings Bank 412 544,233.12
Waterbury Trust (Savings) 172 214,481.90
Merchants Trust (Savings) in 145,361.15
3,873 $5,105,268.35
WATERBURY AXD THE NAUG ATl'CK VALLEY
149
Number of
depositors
having $2,000
to $10,000
Dime Savings Bank 686
Waterbury Savings Bank 927
West Side Savings Bank 180
Waterbury Trust (Savings) 123
Merchants Trust (Savings) 73
1,989
Number of
depositors
having over
$10,000
Dime Savings Bank 13
Waterbury Savings Bank 28
West Side Savings 4
Waterbury Trust (Savings) 9
Merchants Trust (Savings) 8
Amount
$2,291,686.31
3,299,372.89
543,101.52
424,068.07
297.227.56
$6,955,448.35
62
Amount
$ 182,665.60
375,595-93
45,436.23
110,522.41
161,887.00
$ 876,107.17
Including the savings department of the Manufacturers National, which has
about seven thousand accounts and savings deposits of approximately one million
six hundred thousand dollars, there were in Waterbury on October 1, 1916, close
to fifty-two thousand two hundred and eighty distinct savings deposits, amounting
to $22,295,478. Of these over twenty-two hundred, ranging from two thousand
dollars to ten thousand dollars, and approximately forty-two hundred, ranging
from one thousand dollars to two thousand dollars.
One of the gratifying evidences of the helpfulness of the savings banks in the
growth of the community lies in the nature of the investments made. All of them
are heavy holders of mortgages on Waterbury real estate. In the case of the
Waterbury Savings Bank, the amount loaned on Waterbury real estate amounts to
nearly four million dollars, and in the other savings institutions, proportionately
as much. The West Side has over seventy-five per cent of its deposits loaned on
Waterbury real estate.
The Morris Plan Bank of W'aterbury, with capital stock of $56,204 paid in,
was organized in August, 1915, and opened for business September 30, 1916.
According to its report filed with the state October 1, 191 6, it had loans outstand-
ing amounting to $85,415. Its officers are as follows: President, Arthur R.
Kimball ; vice presidents, John H. Goss, John P. Elton ; secretary and treasurer,
Curt T. Illing; directors, Bennett Bronson, John B. Burrall, Terrence F. Car-
mody, Irving H. Chase, George A. Driggs, Theodore I. Driggs, John R. Hughes,
John P. Kellogg, Arthur R. Kimball, Theodore Lilley, Fred E. Linder, Frederick
G. Mason, Charles T. McCarthy, George Rockwell, Archer J. Smith, Charles E.
Spencer, Jr., Leavenworth P. Sperry, Arthur D. Variell, Harris Whittemore,
B. P. Merriman.
This is, of course, purely a loan bank, organized on a plan extending all over
the country with a view to keeping those who are in need of immediate funds in
small amounts from coming into the clutches of loan sharks.
150 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
WATERBURY SAVINGS BANK
The Waterbury Savings Bank is the oldest savings bank in Waterbury, hav-
ing been founded by F. J. Kingsbury in 1850. It has now grown to be the largest
bank in Western Connecticut.
In 1892, the forty-second year of its existence, its deposits amounted to a
little over three million dollars. Ten years later, in 1902, nearly two million more
had been added to the deposits, and on October 1, 191 2, the amount on deposit
in the bank was $6,901,087.13, making another $2,000,000 addition. During the
period of four years and four months, from October 1, 1912, to February 1,
1917, the bank has had a phenomenal growth, due to the corresponding growth
of the city in size and wealth. The deposits on February 1, 1917, were $10,176,-
870.80, belonging to 17,096 depositors. Nearly four million dollars of this amount
was loaned on mortages on Waterbury real estate. Thus the bank, during the
long period of its existence, has not only kept these many millions of deposits
safely, but has greatly assisted the city and its people by providing large sums
of money towards the building of homes and business buildings.
F. J. Kingsbury, the founder of the bank, who during his long life, occupied
a very prominent position in the life and affairs of the city, was secretary and
treasurer, — the chief executive officer, — from 1850 to 1909, when he became
assistant treasurer, which office he held at the time of his death on September 30,
1910. To his wise management was due in large measure the strength of this
large institution.
On January 1, 1906, Edwin S. Hunt, the present secretary and treasurer,
became connected with the bank as assistant treasurer. Mr. Hunt, at the time
of his election, was a practicing lawyer in Waterbury and had been tax collector
during the years 1904 and 1905. On Mr. Kingsbury's retirement, in 1909, he
became secretary and treasurer, which position he still holds.
In 1892, Edward L. Frisbie was president of the bank, which office he con-
tinued to hold until 1909, the time of his death. His familiarity with the city,
his knowledge of real estate values, and his shrewd common sense were of great
value to the bank. On Mr. Frisbie's death, George E. Terry was elected presi-
dent, and still holds that office.
In 1892 the directors of the bank were Edward L. Frisbie, F. ]. Kingsbury,
N. J. Welton, J. W. Smith, George E. Terry, F. L. Curtiss, A. S. Chase, E. D.
Steele and J. M. Burrall. In 1917 all of these men are dead except Mr. Terry.
During the period from 1892 to 1917, Edward T. Root became a director, and
died in 1910. Charles E. Lamb, who was long associated with the bank as teller,
was also a director, and died in 1906. Mention should also be made of Frederick
B. Merriman, who faithfully served the bank as teller and bookkeeper for many
years and died in 1913.
The present officers and directors are : George E. Terry, president ; Robert
F. Griggs, vice president; Edwin S. Hunt, secretary and treasurer; Almon B.
Dayton, assistant treasurer; directors, George E. Terry, James S. Elton, Henry
A. Hoadley, Henry L. Rowland, Robert F. Griggs, John P. Kellogg, John H.
Goss, John A. Coe, and Edwin S. Hunt.
The bank has done business in the same place, on the corner of North and
West Main streets, during the sixty-seven years of existence. In 1896 it erected
the present handsome Waterbury Savings Bank Building. The banking rooms
were re-arranged and greatly improved in T915. During all of its existence the
savings bank has had the Citizens National Bank as a tenant, the two banks hav-
ing been founded by Mr. Kingsbury and somewhat closely associated during the
\\ ATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
151
earlier part of the period. They still occupy quarters in the same building, though
their management is now entirely distinct and separate.
THE DIME SAVINGS BANK OF W ATERBURY
The Dime Savings Bank of Waterbury received its charter from the General
Assembly at the May session in 1870.
The incorporators were : Guernsey S. Parsons, Henry Merriman, Henry C.
Griggs, Robert Crane, Douglas F. Maltby, Robert K. Brown, Elisha Leaven-
worth, Thomas C. Morton, Owen B. King, Charles A. Warren, Caleb T. Hickcox,
Francis Spencer, Alonson J. Pickett, and John H. Whittemore.
On July 6, 1870, Elisha Leavenworth was elected president; Robert Crane,
Thomas C. Morton and Henry C. Griggs, vice presidents ; Guernsey S. Parsons,
secretary and treasurer, with the following trustees, Guernsey S. Parsons, Henry
C. Griggs, Douglas F. Maltby, Elisha Leavenworth, Owen B. King, Caleb T.
Hickcox, Theodore I. Driggs, John W. Smith, Henry Merriman, Robert Crane,
Robert K. Brown, Thomas C. Morton, Charles A. Warren, Francis Spencer,
Isaac E. Newton, Charles W. Gillette, Samuel S. Robinson.
The first location of the bank was at 1 Central Row, later moving to what is
now known as 30-34 North Main Street. In 1894 the bank purchased the P. B.
Norton property, at the corner of North Main Street and Abbott Avenue, which
it has used as a banking house since then.
The following is a complete list of the trustees to date :
Elisha Leavenworth,
Douglas F. Maltby.
Henry C. Griggs,
Thomas C. Morton,
Charles W. Gillette.
Isaac E. Newton,
Frederick A. Spencer,
Guernsey S. Parsons.
Samuel S. Robinson.
William Brown.
Theodore I. Driggs,
Robert K. Brown.
John W. Smith.
Francis Spencer,
Henry Merriman.
Robert Crane,
Owen B. King,
Charles A. Warren,
Caleb T. Hickcox,
Julius Bronson,
John H. Nettleton,
George F. Perry,
George B. Pierpont,
Meritt Heminway,
Arthur O. Shepardson.
George Prichard,
Edwin U. Lathrop,
Edward T. Turner,
Norman D. Granniss,
Buell Heminway,
Henry H. Peck,
Edward L. Frisbie,
James Brown,
Edward C. Lewis,
Joseph H. Dudley,
Edward M. Burrall,
George R. Baldwin.
Leman W. Cutler,
Otis S. Northrop,
Edward T. Root,
Mark L. Sperry,
William E. Fulton,
John P. Elton,
Oilman C. Hill,
Ralph N. Blakeslee,
Frank B. Buck,
J. Hobart Bronson,
George L. White,
Edwin C. Northrop,
John Booth Burrall,
Arthur Reed Kimball,
Archer J. Smith,
Harris Whittemore,
William B. Merriman,
Darragh DeLancey.
The present officers and trustees are as follows : President, Henry H. Peck ;
vice presidents. John P. Elton, Arthur O. Shepardson, Mark L. Sperry; con-
troller. Otis S. Northrop; secretary and treasurer, Edwin C. Northrop; assistant
treasurer, Richard Preusser; trustees, J. Hobart Bronson, John Booth Burrall,
Darragh DeLancey, lohn P. Elton, William E. Fulton, Oilman C. Hill, Arthur
R. Kimball. Edwin C. Northrop, Otis S. Northrop, Henry H. Peck, Arthur O.
Shepardson. Archer J. Smith. Mark L. Sperry. Harris Whittemore.
152 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
On October i, 1880, the deposits were $671,557.48.
On October 1, 1890, the deposits were $1,948,785.81, and the total number
of depositors 8,234.
On October 1, 1900, the deposits were $3,294,287.63, and the total number of
depositors 11,678.
On October 1, 1910, the deposits were $5,325,025.47, and the total number of
depositors 17,236.
On October 1, 1916, the deposits were $7,107,324.24, and the total number of
depositors 19,451.
In the year ending October 1, 1916, this bank showed its largest increase for
any one year, the deposits increasing $1,117,515.83, and an increase of 2,286
depositors.
MANUFACTURERS NATIONAL BANK
On the 5th of October, 1880, a meeting was held for the purpose of organiz-
ing the Manufacturers National Bank of Waterbury, for which a certificate was
issued on the 25th of the same month, and the institution opened its doors for
business.
The first president was David B. Hamilton of Waterbury, who served from
1880 until his death on August 14, 1898. He was succeeded by George W. Beach,
who had been vice president from the time that office was created on January 9,
T894, but who upon the death of Mr. Hamilton was called to the presidency and
so continued until February, 1906. He was succeeded by Edward L. Frisbie, who
occupied the office from March 20, 1906, until he, too, passed away on April 13,
1909. His successor is Charles F. Mitchell, who is still the presiding head of the
institution, having been called to the position on May 4, 1909. Mr. Frisbie had
succeeded Mr. Beach as vice president, and Mr. Mitchell was his successor in that
office, continuing from 1906 until he was called to the presidency in 1909. R. W.
Hill then became vice president and filled that office until July 16. 1909. William
E. Fulton was elected vice president on January 11, 1910, and still continues.
The first cashier was Charles R. Baldwin, who served from October 25, 1880,
until May 31, 1892, when Charles F. Mitchell was elected and remained in the posi-
tion until March 20, 1906, when he became vice president. A. E. Lord was then
cashier from that date until January 12, 1909, and Lewis S. Reed was made assist-
ant cashier, becoming cashier on May 4, 1909, and still remaining in this position.
The bank was first located at 102 Bank Street, where the Jones-Morgan Build-
ing now stands, and a removal was made to the present location in December, 1897,
when quarters were secured in the Bohl Building, then owned by Truman S.
Lewis. Soon afterward the bank purchased the building. Its policy has always
been clearly defined and has ever been one which would bear the closest investi-
gation and scrutiny. A general banking business is being conducted and the pro-
gressive methods which were early instituted have developed it into one of the
strong banks of the state.
THE CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK
The Citizens National Bank, which was founded by Mr. Kingsbury and which
is co-tenant of the building with the Waterbury Savings Bank, has had a great
growth in the last quarter of a century. Twenty-five years ago, 1892, its deposits
amounted to $500,000.00. In 1917 these aggregate $5,000,000.00. Its capital
and surplus has grown to $450,000.00.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 153
Its officers in 1892 were: F. J. Kingsbury, president; F. L. Curtiss, cashier;
Directors F. J. Kingsbury, D. E. Sprague, Edward Cowles, H. H. Peck and F. L.
Curtiss.
Its officers and directors in 1917 are: J. H. Bronson, president; E. O. Goss,
vice president; H. A. Hoadley, cashier; E. R. Hudson, R. W. Hurlbut, assistant
cashiers; Directors J. H. Bronson, Edward O. Goss, F. S. Chase, John A. Coe,
Jr., E. S. 1 lunt, Darragh DeLancey, T. F. Jackson, H. A. Hoadley.
THE WEST SIDE SAVINGS BANK
The West Side Savings Bank was incorporated in 1889. Its first officers were:
President Edward T. Turner, Vice President J. R. Smith, Treasurer Gordon ].
Lawrence. On October 1, 1890, its deposits were $34,664.62. On October 1,
1916, these were $2,143,766.34. Of this amount the investment in loans on
Waterbury real estate is $1,629,985.00. The bank was located on Bank Street in
Brooklyn, rear Holmes booth, Hayden's office, then moving to the old Masonic
Temple Building, being afterwards for eighteen years on the corner of Center
and Bank streets and on January 1, 191 7, it moved into its present beautiful
quarters in the Buckingham Building.
The present officers are : President, J. Richard Smith ; vice president, Lewis
A. Piatt; secretary, R. G. Hannegan; treasurer, George E. Judd. Its directors
today are president, vice president and treasurer and Nathaniel R. Bronson,
B. L. Coe, George A. Driggs, Howard M. Hickcox, T. F. Jackson, Herbert W.
Lake and Michael Guilfoile.
THE MERCHANTS TRUST COMPANY
The Merchants Trust Company was organized November 28, 1910, with a
capital of $100,000.00. Its deposits at the end of the first year of its existence
were $150,000.00. Its deposits now. September, 1917, are over $2,000,000.00,
and its surplus is $88,000.00.
Its first officers and directors were : James E. Smith, president ; Henry
Weyand, secretary and treasurer; directors, the officers and Michael E. Keeley,
John S. Neagle, Thomas H. Hayes, Frank Pepe, Wm. Riether, Isidore Chase.
The officers today are : President, Henry Weyand ; vice president, John S.
Neagle ; secretary and treasurer, John E. Bulger ; E. F. Moran, assistant treas-
urer : directors. Henry Weyand, John S. Neagle, M. E. Keeley, Isidore Chase,
Frank Pepe, Wm. Riether, James E. Russell, Thomas Finnegan, Arthur A.
Tanner, Frank Hayes, John E. Bulger.
It has occupied its present quarters at 142 Grand Street since its organization.
THE COLONIAL TRUST COMPANY
The Colonial Trust Company was the first of the trust companies to begin
business in W'aterbury. Its original capital when it opened its doors in 1899
was $400,000.00 with a surplus of $100,000.00. In 191 1 the Fourth National
Bank was consolidated with the Colonial. According to the statement issued
March 5, 1917, its capital stock is $400,000.00, its surplus is $535,451.20 and its
deposits are $7,033,538.09. This is an increase from $2,000,000.00, its deposits
in 1900. In 1902, it moved into its own beautiful building on West Main Street.
Prior to that year it had its quarters on Center Street.
Its first president was D. S. Plume, who was succeeded by J. H. Whittemore,
154 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
both of whom have passed away. Otis S. Northrop, its present executive, suc-
ceeded the latter. Gen. Louis N. Van Keuren was the first treasurer.
The first directors of the Colonial Trust Company were D. S. Plume, J. H.
Whittemore, Geo. M. Woodruff, Carlos French, Franklin Farrel, C. F. Brooker,
A. M. Young, George E. Terry, E. M. Burrall, C. P. Goss, E. L. Frisbie.
Its present officers and directors are as follows :
Otis S. Northrop, president; George M. Woodruff, vice president; John P.
Elton, vice president; Charles E. Spencer, Jr., treasurer; W. P. Bryan, secre-
tary; H. L. Rowland, trust officer; George E. Terry, counsel; directors, Charles
F. Bliss, William H. Bristol, W. P. Bryan, John Booth Burrall, Wallace H.
Camp, Edmund Day, George A. Driggs, John P. Elton, Alton Farrell, Edward
L. Frisbie, W. Shirley Fulton, Robert F. Griggs, Arthur R. Kimball, Otis S.
Northrop, Lewis A. Piatt, H. L. Rowland, C. E. Spencer, Jr., George E. Terry,
Harris Whittemore, George M. Woodruff.
The Fourth National Bank, now incorporated with the Colonial Trust Com-
pany, as above stated, was organized in 1887 with a capital of $100,000.00. Its
first president was D. S. Plume, and its first cashier was Burton G. Bryan. At
the time of consolidation the officers and directors were : J. Richard Smith,
president; Lewis A. Piatt and John Henderson, Jr., vice presidents; George E.
Judd, treasurer; directors, these officers and Henry L. Wade, George A. Driggs,
N. R. Bronson, Benj. L. Coe, Cornelius Tracy, Thomas F. Jackson, Howard M.
Hickcox, Herbert W. Lake, Michael Guilfoile.
THE WATERBURY NATIONAL BANK
The Waterbury National Bank today occupies the same building, although
large additions have been made, in which it began business as the Waterbury
Bank in September, 1848. It became a national bank February 2, 1865. Its
present officers are: H. S. Chase, president; A. J. Blakesley, cashier; F. W.
Judson, assistant cashier. The capital of the bank today, $500,000 is what it
was on July 23, 1850. Its surplus has shown a continuous increase, the last
report of June, 191 7, placing it at $400,000. Its individual deposits on the same
date were $3,883,983.10. The directors at present are: J. S. Elton, H. S. Chase,
A. J. Smith, J. R. Smith, Irving S. Chase, A. W. Mitchell, M. Heminway, G. C.
Hill, F. W. judson, Alfred Hart, A. J. Blakesley and Geo. E. Boyd.
Augustus Milo Blakesley, father of A. J. Blakesley, present cashier of the
bank, was its cashier from 1852 until his death, October 20, 1908. J. S. Elton
resigned as president in 1916 and was succeeded by H. S. Chase.
THE WATERBURY TRUST COMPANY
The Waterbury Trust Company was granted its charter at the January ses-
sion of the State Legislature in 1907. Its original officers were C. L. Holmes,
president ; M. L. Sperry, vice president, and H. S. Seeley, secretary and treas-
urer. It began business on June 24, 1907.
The growth of the institution since that date has been phenomenal, the result
of sound management and substantial patronage. It has been strong in both
its general banking business and in the savings department, which on October
1, 1916, showed 1,525 deposits, an increase for the year of 925.
On August 1, 1917, it had a surplus of $55,431.35 and in 1917 deposits
amounted to $3,030,338.33. Its present officers and directors are as follows :
Charles L Holmes, president ; Mark L. Sperry, vice president ; Henry S. Seeley,
IM^BM^^^^^^B
COLONIAL TRUST BUILDING, WATERBURY
VVATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 155
secretary and treasurer; Walter M. Bassford, assistant treasurer; Frederick W.
Chesson, assistant secretary. Directors: Edmund J. Daly, John Draher, Louis
E. Fitzsimons (deceased), Harry H. Heminway, Thomas H. Hewitt, Charles
L. Holmes, John K. Hughes, Herbert S. Rowland, Henry S. Seeley, Mark L.
Sperry, Cornelius Tracy, \V. S. R. Wake, Edwin H. Williams, William T.
WOodruff and Charles A. Templeton. Mr. Chesson entered the national army
in 19 1 7.
THE RECENT tNSURANCE HISTORY OF WATERBURY
Waterbury has at present no distinctly local life, fire or accident insurance
organization, although a recent incorporation leads to the hope of early organ-
ization in both the fire and life insurance lines.
The Waterbury Board of Underwriters, which comprises all the agents and
authorized brokers now in business here, is kept alive by the earnest effort of
the leading firms to see that the rules and regulations governing insurance here
are strictly enforced. These rules and regulations come direct from the New
England Insurance Exchange of Boston, which is the governing body in the state.
The enactment of the anti-rebating law by the last Connecticut Legislature
has greatly aided legitimate insurance business, giving it the stability which has
long been lacking.
There have been three notable efforts in the past quarter century to estab-
lish distinctly local insurance organizations. The Connecticut Indemnity Asso-
ciation, which had been organized on October 30, 1883, was perhaps the most
pretentious of these efforts. It was organized to insure for life, health and
accident. Its original promoters were Victor L. Sawyer, Dr. F. M. Cannon,
John S. Purdy and John H. Guernsey. It remained in business until 1898, when
conditions forced it to liquidate.
The second notable effort along insurance lines was the organization and
operation of the "Connecticut Mutual Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance
Company in June, 1886. Of this David S. Plume was the first president. Later
D. B. Hamilton was its executive, and when it was finally merged into the Hart-
ford Steam Boiler and Inspection Company in 1906, its president was Henry
L. Wade.
The third effort was in the year 1902 in the organization of the Mutual
Security Company, the purpose of which was to insure against strikes. This
continued in business until 1910, but lack of interest on the part of local manu-
facturers finally convinced its promoters that the project could not succeed.
When it finally liquidated, its president was Gen. Louis N. Van Keuren and
its secretary was F. J. Brown.
The Connecticut Legislature, at its 191 7 session, granted charters, — one for
life insurance company and the other for a fire insurance company. The incor-
porators in both charters are Messrs. M. E. Keeley, Abner P. Hayes, Herman
J. Weisman, and Frank Hayes. No steps have yet been taken to make these
charters effective.
CHAPTER XII
HISTORY OF WATERBURY'S HOTELS
THE FIRE OF ICJ02 FOLLOWED BY AN ERA OF HOTEL CONSTRUCTION — THE CONNECTI-
CUT HOTEL EXCHANGE HOTEL ENLARGED RAISING THE FUND FOR THE ELTON
THE SUBSCRIBERS ITS FIRST YEAR'S RECORD DESCRIPTION STARTING THE
"IDEAL TOUR" — THE KINGSBURY AND HODSON'S — MANY HOTELS SPRING UP
DURING MUNITION-MAKING PERIOD.
The disastrous fire of 1902 and the beginning of munition-making in 1914-
191 5 mark the two periods in which there was a distinct growth in the number
and the capacity of Waterbury's hotels. In 1893, the beginning of the present
quarter century, there were approximately fifteen hotels in Waterbury, most of
them however merely large rooming houses. The Scovill House, of which T. R.
Howe was manager, was still the leading hotel. The Franklin House, which
was then operated by J. Frank Weedon, the Cooley House, run by A. J. Bunnell,
and Brown's Hotel were all smaller but well-kept hostelries. On February 22,
1894, Brown's Hotel was destroyed by fire. This was afterwards rebuilt as
a business block known as The Arcade. Earle's Hotel was on the site of the
original Naugatuck Railroad Station and Smith's Hotel, now known as The
Stratton, on East Main Street, was then a comparatively new and rather preten-
tious hotel. It had been built just after the blizzard of 1888. Changes in man-
agement and the opening of smaller hotels marked nearly every year.
On February 2 and 3, 1902, the Scovill House and Franklin House were
destroyed in the conflagrations of those dates. Then followed a period of hotel
construction which soon more than replaced in capacity the ruined buildings.
Louis F. Haase, who had a new building on Center Street which he was
using as a house furnishing store, remodeled it completely and opened it in 1904
under the name of the Connecticut Hotel. It was at first leased by George Q.
Pattee of New Britain, afterwards by F. W. Haase, brother of L. F. Haase. On
January 3, 1916, this was totally destroyed by fire and when the new building
was completed, it was leased to the Metropolitan Furniture Company.
Shortly after the fire, what was known as Exchange Hotel was enlarged and
opened in the building which is now the old part of Hodson's Hotel. The Bank
Hotel was opened by Robert Molzon at 290-292 Bank Street. The building,
which in 1902 was constructed for small family apartments, was changed over
into a hotel and has retained its name to this time. It has been managed for
fifteen years by Michael Molzon, the present owner, and is still one of the best
of the smaller hotels of the city. It has forty-seven rooms.
The Elton, one of the finest hotels in the East, is however the notable land-
mark of this period of hotel construction, and the story of its inception, its
building and its official opening is an illustration of the local pride and public
spirit of that time.
In 1903 the need of a fine hotel for Waterbury became so apparent to the
leaders of its business that a local company was formed for the purpose of
raising, if needed, half a million dollars for a site and building.
156
WATEKl'.l'RY AXD THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY
157
The secretary of this company was George E. Boyd, and it was due to his
splendid work, as well as to the public spirit of the entire community, that the
first $300,000.00 the amount of the capitalization, was quickly raised.
The official list of these stockholders is an historical document and is incor-
porated here as an evidence of the co-operative spirit of the community in time
of great need.
Shares
300 J. S. Elton, Waterbury.
300 H. II. Peck, Waterbury.
250 Mrs. Ellen Scovill. Washington,
D. C.
100 Mrs. Alary E. Burrall, Water-
bury.
100 Mrs. Ida E. Fulton, -Waterbury.
50 Benedict & Burnham Mfg. Co.,
Waterbury.
50 Holmes, Booth & Haydens Co.,
Waterbury.
50 Plume & Atwood Mfg. Co.,
Waterbury.
50 Scovill Mfg. Co., Waterbury.
50 Mrs. H. Sophia Hoyt, Waterbury.
50 William E. Fulton, Waterbury.
50 Irving H. Chase, Waterbury.
50 Henry L. Wade, Waterbury.
50 Henrv W. Scovill, Washington,
D.C.
50 Bowditch & Stratton, Boston,
Mass.
50 Truman S. Lewis, W'aterbury.
50 Miss Caroline A. Piatt, Water-
bury.
50 Mrs. Lillian Clarke Farrel,
Ansonia.
36 George L. White, Waterbury.
30 Waterbury Button Co., Water-
bury.
30 Oakville Co., Oakville.
30 Waterbury Clock Co., Waterbury.
30 Ralph H. Smith, W'aterbury.
25 Waterbury Farrel Foundry &
Mach. Co., Waterbury.
25 New England Watch Co., Water-
bury.
25 Waterbury Buckle Co., Water-
bury.
25 F. J. Kingsbury, Jr., Fairfield.
25 Miss Alice E. Kingsbury, Water-
bury.
25 Miss Edith D. Kingsbury. Water-
bun'.
Shares
24 Mrs. Mary L. Mitchell, Water-
bury.
20 American Ring Co., Waterbury.
20 Mrs. C. M. Benedict, Waterbury.
20 Miss A. C. Benedict, Waterbury.
20 American Pin Co., Waterville.
5 Steele & Johnson Mfg. Co., Water-
bury.
5 Connecticut Railway & Lighting
Co., New York.
2 John C. Smith, New York.
2 Charles F. Brooker, Ansonia.
2 H. S. Chase, Waterbury.
2 Otis S. Northrop, Waterbury.
2 Lewis A. Piatt, Waterbury.
2 J. Richard Smith, Waterbury.
2 Frederick B. Rice, Waterbury.
2 Berbecker & Rowland Co., Water-
ville.
o Blake & Johnson Co., Waterbury.
o George B. Lamb, Waterbury.
o Archer J. Smith, Waterbury.
o Thomas Fitzsimons, Waterbury.
o John Booth Burrall, Waterbury.
o William D. Richardson, Water-
bury.
o B. C. Bryan, Waterbury.
o Samuel Rosenstamm, New York.
o E. L. Frisbie, Jr., Waterbury.
o D. S. Plume, Waterbury.
o Lucien F. Burpee, Waterbury.
o John P. Elton, Waterbury.
o Earl Smith, Waterbury.
o F. L. Curtiss, Waterbury.
o C. L. Holmes, Waterbury.
o Walter W. Holmes, Waterbury.
o Gilman C. Hill, Waterbury.
o Mrs. Charlotte B. Hill, Water-
bury.
b Thomas Kelly, Waterbury.
o Dr. Henry G. Anderson, Water-
bury.
o Thomas B. Kent, New York.
o Cornelius Tracy, Waterbury.
358
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Shares
10 George Tracy, Waterbury.
10 J. M. Burrall & Co., Waterbury.
10 C. H. Tucker, New York.
10 Gordon W. Burnham, New York.
10 Miss Florentine H. Hayden,
Waterbury.
10 Miss Anna L. Ward, Waterbury.
10 Adolph Lewisohn, New York.
10 Herbert P. Camp, Waterbury.
10 M. J. Daly, Waterbury.
9 F. Kingsbury Bull, New York.
9 Ludlow S. Bull, New York.
8 Miss Dorothy Bull, New York.
6 Dr. F. E. Castle, Waterbury.
6 Robert W. Hill, Waterbury.
6 Charles F. Mitchell, Waterbury.
6 Fred S. Chase, Waterbury.
5 New England Engineering Co.,
Waterbury.
5 J. K. Smith, Waterbury.
5 E. T. Root, Waterbury.
5 I. A. Spencer, Waterbury.
5 Henry Weyand, Waterbury.
5 John Henderson, Jr., Waterbury.
5 Roger S. Wotkyns, Waterbury.
5 W. B. Merriman, trustee, Water-
bury.
5 Isidore Chase, Waterbury.
5 Valentine Bohl, Waterbury.
5 John A. Lilley, Waterbury.
5 Jay H. Hart, Waterbury.
Shares
5 William E. Norris, Waterbury.
5 Dr. C. S. Rodman, Waterbury.
5 R. D. Pierpont, Waterbury.
5 A. O. Jennings, Waterbury.
5 R. R. Stannard, Waterbury.
5 John W. Gaffney, Waterbury.
5 A. M. Dickinson, Waterbury.
5 William F. Chatfield, Waterbury.
5 J. B. Mullings, Waterbury.
5 F. W. Chesson, Waterbury.
5 Jacob Kaiser, Waterbury.
5 Edwin H. Williams, agent, Water-
bury.
5 Merritt Heminway, Watertown.
4 T. D. Barlow, Waterbury.
3 Reid & Hughes Dry Goods Co.,
Waterbury.
2 Oliver R. Barlow, Waterbury.
2 Mrs. Cynthia D. Barlow, Water-
bury.
2 Miss Mary A. Barlow, Waterbury.
2 Charles F. Davis, Waterbury.
2 Waterbury Paper Box Co., Inc.,
Waterbury.
2 William H. Wilcox, Waterbury.
2 Haring White Griggs, Waterbury.
i George E. Boyd, Waterbury.
i Jones & Morgan, Waterbury.
i Nelson J. Welton, Waterbury.
i Apothecaries Hall Co., Waterbury.
It is a notable fact that every subscriber was told that there would probably
never be a profit, and there might be deficits to cover.
The management of the new hotel which opened its doors in 1904, was
placed in the hands of Almon C. Judd, who knew Waterbury and who in the
years of his absence from the city, had been employed in some of the largest hotels
in the country. The report of the first year was exceedingly gratifying. With
the exception of the three summer months, the hotel had earned from $300 to
$2,000 during each of the other months of the year.
The location of the hotel, opposite the Green, was a fortunate one, the only
regret being that the old Colonial style Scovill homestead was torn down, instead
of having been removed and saved as a landmark.
The architecture of the house is French Renaissance, and is dignified and
pleasing; the contraction is of steel and brick, fire-proofed in the most thorough
manner.
The foyer extends across the front of the house, and is 50x100 feet in size;
it has a marble floor, and is wainscotted nine feet high with quartered oak. At
both ends of the foyer are large fireplaces. This foyer is divided into four
imaginary rooms by an arrangement of furniture, making sections for a writing
room, reading room, and two lounging and smoking-rooms. Handsome oriental
EXCHANGE PLACE, WATERBURY
THE ELTON. WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 159
rugs are on the floor of each section, which, taken in conjunction with the many
palms and ferns scattered throughout, add much to the general attractiveness
and homelike atmosphere of the room.
The main dining-room is located on the northwest corner of the office floor;
it is finished in French Renaissance style of Louis XV; the treatment is in light
colors, the woodwork being white, the walls are of a rich maroon and the ceiling
pale blue; die center of the ceiling is raised in cylindrical form, richly decorated
with festoons and other ornaments bright with gilding.
The restaurant is known as the Flemish Dining-room, and has been pronounced
by competent judges to be one of the most attractive rooms of the kind in exist-
ence. It is finished in cypress, stained in delicate green and brown tones ; the
wainscotting and columns are decorated with fruit ornamentations ; and above
the wainscotting, the wall is decorated with free-hand painting of the grapevine
design. A handsome antique fire-place also adds beauty to the room. A small
balcony on the left furnishes a place for the orchestra, and is so arranged that
the music may be heard in both dining-rooms.
The ladies' parlor is located on the second floor, and has a commanding view
of the center of the city. It is finished in white enameled carved wood in French
Renaissance style. Pink tapestries and a green Wilton carpet make a very dainty
ensemble. The furniture is of Circassian walnut in Louis XVI style.
The halls of the hotel are unusually wide and well lighted; the floors are
terrazzo, and through the center is a handsome hall carpet, made for the hotel.
The barber shop, billiard room, and bar are located on the basement floor;
the barber shop is finished with a wainscotting of white marble, and the floor is
paved with terrazzo. The entire fittings are most sanitary and modern. The
bar and billiard room are practically combined ; the bar is of a special design, sug-
gestive of an old Dutch Rathskeller; the billiard tables are specially made in a
style to correspond with the furnishings of the bar.
Mahogany and tapestry are the prevailing notes in furniture and upholstery
outside of the public rooms. Of the 147 bedrooms and suites on the five upper
floors of the hotel, all but three are furnished in a plain, rich mahogany, selected
from the best factories in Grand Rapids. There is very little duplication of
design in the bedroom furniture, almost every room having an individual touch;
some rooms for variety have brass beds. Three of the finest suites are furnished
in a still more costly wood, — Circassian walnut, richly carved. Each room has a
telephone available for house service, as well as long-distance usage. There are
fifty-nine private bathrooms connected with the bedrooms, and eleven public
bathrooms. The house is lighted throughout with electricity generated on the
premises.
The working departments, kitchen, laundry, engine-room, etc.. are all fitted
with the modern appliances of an up-to-date hotel.
Mr. Judd, having a big hotel to fill and noting the dearth of hotel business
during the summer months, started in 1905, the year after the opening of the
Elton, what is known now as the "Ideal Tour" for automobiles. This is at
present being advertised in connection with the Biltmore at New York, the
Equinox at Manchester, Vt., the Granliden at Sunapee Lake, N. H., the New
Profile House, at Profile House, X T . H., the Crawford House, at Crawford
Notch, X. II., the Poland Spring House and the Mansion House at Poland
Spring. Me., Hotel Wentworth at Portsmouth, N. TL, Hotel Yendome and the
Copley-Plaza at Boston, and Briarcliffe Lodge at Briarcliffe Manor, N. Y.
The Ideal Tour Route through New England has become an interstate high-
way which motorists en route for all New England resorts, the White Moun-
160 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
tains, Maine, The Berkshires, or other points almost invariably follow to the
point nearest their destination, as the Ideal Tour combines the most beautiful
scenic effects, the best roads, and conveniently situated hotels of the highest class,
and it is sometimes more convenient for these motorists to reverse the tour, or
join it at some point en route.
The hotel is still owned by the old company, but is now leased to Almon C.
Judd on a yearly rental basis.
Next to the Elton, the leading hotels today are the Kingsbury and Hodson's.
The Kingsbury, at 44 Center Street, was built by Cornelius H. Cables. The
Center Street section was remodeled from existing buildings and the section run-
ning back to Harrison Avenue is entirely new. It is now operated by the Cables
Family, and was opened on October 25, 1908. It has 170 rooms.
Hodson's Hotel, which is owned by J. W. and F. J. Hodson, is perhaps the
newest of the larger hotels. The remodeled part of West Main Street was com-
pleted in 191 6, and Hodson's, which for twelve years had merely been a large
dining-room and since 1885 a cafe, was now opened as a thoroughly modern
hotel. For three years the old part, formerly the Exchange Hotel, had, however,
been called Hodson's.
The old Hotel Broadway at 90 E. Main Street, which was also known for a
time as the Savoy, and in 1910 as the Lamphier, became the Fuller Hotel in
March, 191 1, a name it still retains. It has sixty rooms.
The Windsor Hotel at 28 Center Street was the well-known Hotel Water-
bury of two decades ago. Later it became the Hotel Plaza and then the Hotel
Marlborough. Two years ago it was leased from the owner of the building,
David Ducharme of New Haven, by W. J. Allen. Its name had been changed to
the Windsor Hotel by Otis Fuller, a prior manager.
The Delmar on Leavenworth Street was opened as a hotel on February 16,
1916. Up to this time it had been two apartment houses, and before that a
Turkish bathhouse. The structure is owned by Mrs. Margaret Ryder and the
hotel is conducted by L. J. Webb.
The Flanders, which is a remodeled combination of the Monroe Building and
of Nos. 26 and 28 North Main Street, was opened as a hotel with 120 rooms
on January 1, 1917, by William H. Wood.
The Stag Hotel, which for three years has been run under that name by
Thomas D. Bulger, is in the Griggs Building on Bank Street. This was formerly
the Norton, and later the Heinie and the Arlington.
The Stafford House on East Main Street, formerly Smith's, has been run
for nineteen years by its present manager, Mrs. Charles A. Taylor.
There are several smaller houses, such as the Colonial and the Union Square,
but they come rather into the class of good rooming houses, with which the city
is at present amply supplied.
It is, however, interesting to note that for the past two years there have been
few vacant rooms in either the hotels or rooming houses of the city, the prosperity
of the day reflecting itself in these hotel housing conditions.
CHAPTER XIII
THE HOSPITALS OF WATERBURY
waterbury hospital in its old quarters the need of a new building
contributions pour in and new hospital dedicated donors of the build-
ing fund officers growth in recent years the medical board st.
mary's hospital, the inspiration of monsignor slocum— -its dedication —
the medical board.
The first published suggestion for the establishment of the Waterbury Hos-
pital appeared in the Waterbury Republican September I, 1882. From that time
on the interest in the project grew, the State Legislature appropriated $25,000
on condition that $50,000 was raised by private subscription, and later gave
it an additional $25,000 and $2,500 a year toward its maintenance. These
early steps in the building up of the institution with tributes to all of those who
gave so liberally have been beautifully recorded by Dr. Joseph Anderson in
his "History of Waterbury."
In January, 1892, a quarter of a century ago, the hospital had been in opera-
tion for two years ; brick additions to the old Allen B. Wilson Home, which
constituted the main building, had been erected. At the west of the main build-
ing was the site for the nurses' home. This was begun in November, 1892, and
completed in July, 1893. It was the gift of Henry H. Peck. The laundry had
also been erected and formed part of what was the Waterbury Hospital.
Its officers in 1892, at the beginning of our quarter century, were: Presi-
dent, Frederick J. Kingsbury ; vice president, Augustus S. Chase ; executive com-
mittee, Edward L. Frisbie, George W. Beach, Henry H. Peck; secretary, J.
Hobart Bronson ; treasurer, Augustus M. Blakesley ; directors, James S. Elton,
David S. Plume, Edward C. Lewis, John W. Smith and the officers named.
In 1892, the medical staff consisted of Drs. Alfred North and Edward L.
Griggs, consulting physicians and surgeons, and the following visiting physicians
and surgeons : Drs. W. W. Holmes, Frank E. Castle, Walter L. Barber, E. W.
McDonald, C. S. Rodman, T. L. Axtell, John M. Benedict, Caroline R. Conkey.
The matron was Miss Mary Felter, and her staff comprised "one trained
nurse, three who have served in the hospital one year or longer and four in
training." A janitor, one orderly, a cook, a waitress, and a laundress completed
the working force.
In this year, the hospital obtained the Margaret Gorman bequest of $9,441.40.
Tn the following year the Olive M. Elton fund of $5,000 and the Scott bequest of
$5,000 were received.
In 1898, the hospital had grown to such proportions that the medical staff
was considerably increased. Wlrle in 1897 the total number of hospital days
recorded was 11,120, in 1808 it had grown to 13,178. In 1897 the number of
cases treated was 379; in 1898 cases treated were 406.
In 1898 Miss Mary Felter resigned as matron, and was succeeded by
Miss Mary A. Andrews.
Vol. 1— 11
161
162 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
In 1901 the ground south leading to the roadway was presented to the hospital
by James S. Elton.
In 1903 the executive committee had been at its task for fourteen years, and
requested the selection of younger men. Messrs. E. L. Frisbie, Geo. W. Beach
and Henry H. Peck had performed these labors so well that it was only their
insistance that finally made a change necessary, and Messrs. Henry L. Wade,
William E. Fulton and Otis S. Northrop succeeded them.
During this period a new roof was put on the wards. The equipment of a
pathological department and purchase of apparatus and hospital instruments
vastly enhanced the hospital's usefulness.
A gift of $1,800 from Mr. Kingsbury, to which was added a gift from the
Sunday school children of the city made it possible to construct a ward of seven
beds for children.
In 1904 the training school for nurses was established.
In 1906 James S. Elton was elected to the presidency, to succeed Mr. Kings-
bury, who felt that he had earned a respite from his task.
The need of increased hospital facilities had now become so imperative that
the officers determined upon raising an ample fund for the construction of a
new hospital. The total number of hospital days for 1906 had gone to 14,636
and in 1907 the record was 16,344. The year 1907 recorded 665 cases treated, —
an increase of eighty-eight over the previous year.
During 1906 the movement took on such proportions that at the end of 1907
a fund for new hospital buildings had reached $250,000. It was at this time that
the property known as Westwood, containing about 21 acres, was purchased from
C. L. and W. W. Holmes as the site of the new hospital
In 1908 Henry Bacon of New York was selected as architect, and it was
decided to move the old Holmes Residence to a new location and to convert it
into a nurses' dormitory.
On May 16, 1910, the cornerstone of the new hospital buildings was laid
in the presence of the directors and physicians of the staff.
When the new Waterbury Hospital was finally opened in the fall of 191 1,
it was found that more than $300,000 had been expended in the construction,
furnishings and fixtures.
The donors of the building fund were as follows :
Estate of Susan Bronson, C. L. and W. W. Holmes, Mrs. Mary J. Schlegel,
J. H. Bronson, Frederick J. Kingsbury, Archer J. Smith,
Mrs. Mary E. Burrall, Elisha Leavenworth, M. L. Sperry,
The A. S. Chase Family, George A. Lewis, Howard B. Turtle,
Mrs. Mary A. Curtiss, Charles Miller, Mrs. Mary A. Tuttle,
James S. Elton, Mrs. Mary L. Mitchell, Henry L. Wade,
Franklin Farrel, Henry H. Peck, George L. White.
Mrs. Ida E. Fulton, Estate of C. M. Piatt,
Wm. E. Fulton, Heirs of Wm. S. Piatt,
The Buckingham Building, erected in 1906, is the gift to the hospital of J. H.
Whittemore.
The nurses' dormitory in Westwood Hall was in memory of Israel Holmes.
It was the generosity of Henry H. Peck which supplied the substantial iron
fence, the walls and the artistic entrance shelter on Robbins Street, later still
further beautified by him.
The location of the hospital brings out all the classic lines of construction.
It is a model institution within and without.
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WATERBURV AXJ) THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY 163
The death, in 191 2, of Henry L. Wade, who had been on the executive com-
mittee and a director since 1903, necessitated the election of a new member.
J. Richard Smith was chosen to fill the vacancy. Mr. Wade's last gift to the
Hospital was a bequest of $5,000 for a free cot. This is known as the Henry
L. Wade Free Bed Fund.
Eight of the rooms in the new hospital were furnished at once in memory
of L. Eliza Crosby, Mary B. F. Griggs, Robert W. Hull, Capt. Henry B. Peck,
Emma L. Seelig. Edward O. Steele, Francis R. P. Welton and John Howard
Whittemore.
The family of the late Doctor North, the first surgeon on the staff, donated
the instruments and cases in the operating room.
In 1913 the facilities of the new hospital were tested almost to capacity.
The total number of hospital days increased to 25,866, and the total number of
cases treated was 1,335. In 1914, these figures were respectively 25,589 and
1,456. But gifts were showered upon the new institution and its friends saw
to it that nothing was lacking to make it thoroughly up-to-date in its work and
in its facilities.
In 191 5 the number of cases treated exceeded the estimated capacity of the
hospital on several occasions. In fact, although but eighty beds were provided,
there was often found room during the year for 100 patients. It was in 191 5
that plans were approved for a 25-room dormitory with assembly hall and super-
intendent's suite, as an addition to the nurses' home. Each year is now adding
to the endowments. In 191 5 Miss Alice Eliza Kingsbury gave $5,000 for the
Scovill-Kingsbury bed which is established for the poor of St. John's Parish,
Waterbury.
By the last annual report which covers the year 1916, the total number of
cases treated was 1,759, with a total of 29,283 hospital days. During 1916 the
improvements, above mentioned, were completed at a cost of approximately
.^30,000.
During the year the bequest of $25,000 from the estate of Julia V. Warner
Spencer for the general fund and $5,000 for a free cot to be known as the Emeline
D. Warner Fund, was announced.
In this year, too, a gift of $10,000 was made by Mr. and Mrs. Henry W.
Scovill for the endowment of a room to be known as Mother Scovill's Room.
Up to August, 1917, the hospital cared for 300 more patients than had been
treated in the same length of time in 1916. This constant increase in service has
now necessitated the erection of a new wing on the south side of the hospital,
plans for which are being approved. When this addition is completed, the hos-
pital will have a capacity of 175 beds.
From the training school for nurses connected with the hospital, fifty have
been graduated from 1906 to January 1, 1917. The largest class, ten, was grad-
uated in 191 5. and the smallest, one, in 1908.
The Hospital Aid Society was organized as an efficient source of helpfulness
to the Waterbury Hospital on September 15, 1890. It has been exceedingly
active, seeing that gifts of clothing, bedding, papers, books, pictures and deli-
cacies are never lacking. Its officers at present are: President, Katherine D.
Hamilton; secretary, Mrs. Hiram M. Steele; treasurer, Abbie S. Kingman.
Of the directors who were on the original board in T884 only the president,
Tames S. Elton, is now among the living. Of the corporators named in the
original charter, only James S. Elton and Frederick J. Brown survive.
The officers for 1917 are as follows: President, James S. Elton; vice presi-
dent, Henry H. Peck; treasurer, Albert J. Blakesley ; secretary, J. H. Bronson ;
164 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
executive committee, Otis S. Northrop, J. Richard Smith, Henry H. Peck; super-
intendent, Miss Grace L. Wolcott; directors, James S. Elton, Harris Whitte-
more, Henry H. Peck, Otis S. Northrop, Henry S. Chase, J. H. Bronson, William
E. Fulton, J. Richard Smith.
The following is the medical staff for 191 7:
Senior surgeon, F. E. Castle; ophthalmic senior surgeon, C. S. Rodman; resi-
dent consulting physician and surgeon, C. W. S. Frost ; non-resident consulting
physicians and surgeons, J. S. Martin, Watertown; E. K. Loveland, Watertown;
W. S. Munger, Watertown; H. S. Allen, Woodbury; J. M. Benedict, Wood-
bury; N. L. Deming, Litchfield; F. J. Tuttle, Naugatuck; R. S. Goodwin, Thomas-
ton ; G. D. Ferguson, Thomaston ; Robert Hazen, Thomaston ; H. B. Hanchett,
Torrington ; Harold B. Woodward, Terryville ; attending staff, physicians, W. L.
Barber, D. B. Deming, Charles Engelke, F. G. Graves, E. L. Smith, A. D. Variell;
surgeons, W. L. Barber, Jr., A. A. Crane, N. A. Pomeroy, E. H. Johnson, J. S.
Dye, G. M. Smith; assistant physician, H. E. Hungerford; assistant surgeons,
Edmund Spicer, E. H. Kirschbaum ; gynecologists, H. G. Anderson, C. H.
Brown; obstetricians, J. J. Gailey, D. B. Deming, Edmund Russell; laryngol-
ogist, C. E. Munger; pathologist, Charles Engelke; orthopedic surgeons, F. H.
Albee, J. L. Moriarty ; opthalmic surgeons, D. J. Maloney, T. F. Bevans ; anaes-
thetists, Edmund Russell, Eugene F. Callender, A. F. McDonald ; radiographer,
C. H. Brown; dermatologist, T. M. Bull; dental surgeons, H. W. Stevens, A. B.
Holmes ; urologist, A. C. Swenson.
st. mary's hospital of waterbury
St. Mary's Hospital, which is conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph, opened
its doors for the care of patients in 1909.
The need of thoroughly equipping an institution of this beneficent character
became more and more pressing. The women of Waterbury met on March 7,
1908, and organized what is now known as St. Mary's Hospital Aid Association.
It was through its splendid efforts that the hospital was enabled when it finally
began its great work of service, to present an institution supplied with every
convenience and modern appliance for the care of the sick.
St. Mary's Hospital may be called a monument to the memory of the late
Right Rev. Mgr. William J. Slocum. It was through his effort that the initial
funds were raised, he starting it with a contribution of $20,000, and it was largely
through his urging that the building project assumed shane in 1906 and 1907.
In the latter year the State of Connecticut contributed $10,000 to the under-
taking, adding $6,250 to this in 1909.
The total cost of land and buildings up to January 1, 191 1, was $247,555.39.
The building is constructed on the models of the finest institutions of the
kind in the country. Its equipment is in every way up-to-date.
Dr. D. J. Maloney furnished the children's ward ; Mary J. Russell and mem-
bers of her family furnished another ward. Others were furnished, one by
friends in memory of J. C. Mulville, one by Frank P. Brett and Mary Minnehan,
one by E. T. and Jeremiah H. Daly, one by Notre Dame, one by St. Bonaventure's
Alumnae, one by the St. Thomas Parish, and one by Fred Wm. Derwin. Many
private rooms were endowed in addition to the above ward endowemnts.
In July, 1910, the hospital was formally incorporated, the board consisting of:
President, Right Rev. John Nilan, D. D., vice president, Rev. Luke Fitzsimons,
P. R. ; superintendent, Sister Mary Xavier, all of whom continue in their
respective offices. The directors were Right Rev. John Nilan, D. D., Very Rev.
ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL, WATERBLTRY
WATERBURY AXI) THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 165
Thomas Duggan, V. G., Rev. Luke Fitzsimons, P. R., Right Rev. John Synnoth,
Rev. Timothy Crowley, LL. D., Rev. James E. O'Brien, Win. S. Jones, Terrence
F. Carmody, Mortimer I teffernan, W'm. Kennedy, Thomas F. Jackson, Sister
Mary Germain.
The first medical staff of St. Mary's Hospital was as follows: President,
Dr. B. G. O'Jlara; vice president. Dr. Nelson A. Pomeroy; secretary, Dr. John
D. Freney. The surgeons were Doctors Pomeroy, Kilmartin, Crane, Lawlor,
Russell and O'Connor. The consultants were Drs. D. F. Sullivan, J. F. O'Con-
nor, J. B. Boucher of Plartford, T. F. McGrath of New York, and J. J. Higgins
of New York. The physicians were Drs. M. J. Donahue, P. J. Dwyer, J. H.
Dillon, F. I. McLarney, J. J. McLinden, P. J. Brennan. The consultants were
Drs. J. E. Castle, A. W. Tracy of Meriden, W. J. Hogan, W. J. Delaney of Nau-
gatuck, I). Reidy of Winsted, W. J. Barber, Jr., \V. J. Conklin of Ansonia, J. H.
Kane of Thomaston, L. J. Thibault. Gynecologist, Dr. Charles A. Monagan;
obstetrician. Dr. B. A. O'Hara ; ophthalmologist, Dr. D. F. Maloney; laryngologist,
and aurist, Dr. J. D. Freney ; dermatologists, Drs. C. W. S. Frost and T. J.
McLarney ; pediadrists, Drs. J. E. Farrell and T. F. Healey ; radiographist and
orthopedist, Dr. J. L. Moriarty; pathologist, Dr. D. B. Deming; gastrologist,
Dr. J. Gancher.
In 1911 the hospital cared for 1,705 patients, an increase of 239 over the
previous year. In 1912 there was an increase of 373 patients or 2,001 cases
treated at the hospital; in 1913, 2,202; in 1914, 1,999; in 191 5, 2,619; m I 9 J 6,
3 ? 388.
St. Mary's Hospital as it is today has long since reached the limit of its
capacity and the need of additional facilities is so apparent that the two proper-
ties adjoining the hospital on Franklin Street have now been purchased, the one
costing $11,500 and the other $15,000. On this it is proposed to construct the
necessary additions just as soon as building conditions warrant.
The Nurses Home, which was opened two years after the dedication of the
hospital, has been an effective aid to the institution and is in charge of a corps of
thoroughly experienced teachers.
St. Mary's Hospital Aid Association, which was organized two years before
the actual opening of the hospital and which at the very outset supplied the
furnishings for the institution, has continued its splendid work of looking after
the minor needs of the hospital. No year has passed without its array of useful
gifts to the institution and patients.
The officers of St. Mary's Hospital Aid Association follow : President, Mrs.
M. J. Lawlor ; recording secretary, Angela Maloney ; financial secretary, Mar-
garet Higgins ; treasurer, Susan O'Neil.
The medical staff of the hospital is at present as follows: President, B. A.
O'Hara, M. D. ; vice president, Nelson A. Pomeroy, M. D. ; secretary, J. D.
Freney, M. D. ; visiting physicians. P. L Brennan, M. D. ; M. J. Donahue, M. D. ;
T. J. McLarney. M. D. : J. H. Dillon. M. D. ; P. J. Dwyer, M. D. ; J. J. McLin-
den, M. D. : assistant physician, R. J. Lawton, M. D., Terryville ; consultant phy-
sicians, \V. T- Delaney, M. D. ; W. A. Reilly, M. D.. Naugatuck; visiting surgeons,
T. T. Kilmartin. M. D. ; N. A. Pomeroy, M. D. ; M. J. Lawlor. M. D. ; G. W.
Russell. M. D; P. T. O'Connor, M. D. ; consultant surgeon, A. A. Crane, M. D. ;
assistant surgeons. J. W. Fruin, M. D. ; T. E. Parker, M. D. ; J. A. Grady.
M. I).; A. I'. Yastola. M. D. ; attending surgeons, John Sinclair Dye, M. D. ;
Andrew Jackson, M. D. ; gynecologist, Charles A. Monagan. M. D. ; proctologist.
John J. Egan, M. D. ; obstetrician, B. A. O'Hara, M. D. ; pediatrists, J. E. Far-
166 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
rell, M. D. ; T. J. Healey, M. D. ; R. J. Quinn, M. D. ; ophthalmic surgeon, D. J.
Maloney, M. D. ; laryngologist, J. D. Freney, M. D. ; orthopedist, J. L. Moriarty,
M. D. ; radiographists, J. L. Moriarty, M. D. ; J. H. McGrath, M. D. ; dermatolo-
Frost,gist, T. J. McLarney, M. D. ; consultants, T. M. Bull, M. D. ; C. W. S.
M. D. ; gastrologist, J. B. Gancher, M. D.
CHAPTER XIV
THE ORGANIZATION OF CHARITY
ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES — CHANGE IN OFFICIALS — SOCIAL
SERVICE CLUB AND ITS WORK AIDING THE RED CROSS THE BUILDING OF LIN-
COLN HOUSE — -THE ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS LEAGUE STARTING THE OPEN-AIR
SCHOOL — RECORDS OE TWO YEARS ITS OFFICIALS FIRST "UNITED CHARITIES"
DAY NURSERY — THE SOUTH MAYD HOME KING'S DAUGHTERS BABY WELFARE
STATION THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTERS DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA SALVATION
ARMY.
In Waterbury, a generation ago, everybody knew everybody else, and sick-
ness or misfortune that called for more than simple neighborly help could be
brought to the attention of churches, lodges or employers and speedily relieved
with certainty as to the conditions to be ameliorated. But as the city grew this
communal system became disorganized. For many years after the depression
which began in 1893 there was no public emergency that called for relief with
the exception of the South Waterbury fire, which made many families homeless.
The panic of 1908 fell suddenly and brought with it the realization that the exist-
ing social machinery had not grown with the community and that a systematic
organization of charitable effort was necessary.
Before this, there had been a deepening social consciousness and a deepening
interest in the community's living conditions which had manifested itself, espe-
cially in the anti-tuberculosis work, part of a nation-wide crusade. Many good
enterprises were already on foot ; some of them showed a tendency at times to
overlap and some means of preventing duplication of effort became necessary.
Thus the Associated Charities of Waterbury was formed in 1909, largely as a
result of experience and observation of conditions during the preceding year.
Lincoln House, the permanent home of the Associated Charities, has been
designed for the Social Service work of the community. It was formally occu-
pied during August, 191 7. This splendid structure, ideal for its purpose, is the
gift of a small coterie of Waterbury's most prominent citizens, who have ex-
pended approximately forty-two thousand dollars in their self-imposed task of
properly housing the beneficent activities of the community. It may be said to
mark for permanence the great work of co-ordinated charity in Waterbury.
Of the growth of the Associated Charities since the date of its organization,
and of the growth as well of the altruistic spirit that has fathered the movement,
the following figures of monies raised and expended since October 1, K)O0, speak
in no uncertain tones :
October, ujog, to June 30. [910 $ 3,893.52
July 1 . mho, to June 30, 1911 5.705-54
July 1 . ii)ii, to June 30, [912 7, 578.76
July 1. 1912, to June 30. 1913 8,097.14
July r. 1913, to June 30, 1914 9,618.32
167
168 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
July i, 1914, to June 30, 1915 14,462.61
July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1916 10,389.90
July 1, 1916, to June 30, 1917 11,725.15
$71,472.94
This total does not include the money separately raised for playground work.
The Associated Charities of Waterbury began its labors of co-ordinating and
directing the charitable efforts of the community on October 1, 1909, and from
that date until the end of its fiscal year, June 30, 1917, it has had under careful
investigation and consideration approximately forty-five hundred cases, involv-
ing close to fourteen thousand individuals. This is sufficient testimony that the
organization has ably carried out its important mission of supplementing the
various philanthropic enterprises which prior to 1909 worked along distinct lines,
in many instances duplicating and confusing the great work of helpfulness to the
unfortunates in Waterbury.
Today by means of the organization, all of the city's philanthropic enterprises
— district nursing, relief work, the war on tuberculosis, day nurseries, boys' and
girls' clubs — are all in the field, each with its corps of willing and trained work-
ers, laboring together and co-ordinated on behalf of the destitute and stricken.
The functions of the Associated Charities may be regarded as fivefold. First.
Co-ordination : To stand as a clearing house for the different philanthropic
agencies, that each may know what the others are doing and thus be left free to
carry its own work at highest efficiency. Second. Investigation : To inquire
carefully into the needs of all applicants brought to its attention and bring them
at once into communication with those organizations or other forces best fitted
to meet the need. Third. Relief: To see that destitution is relieved so far as it
is in its power to relieve it. Fourth. Civic Action : To endeavor to trace desti-
tution to its social causes and to direct its energy toward the removal of those
causes, wherever this is possible. Fifth. Charities Endorsement: To investi-
gate the appeals for money or other assistance which come to the people of
Waterbury from other cities for alleged charitable institutions or societies wher-
ever these appeals come to its notice, and to keep on file a record of the results
of inquiries for the benefit of all citizens who may be aided by such information.
The Associated Charities is in existence to study the problem of poverty in
Waterbury as a whole. Its aim is to protect the community from the worst evils
due to poverty and to place destitute families in a position to help themselves.
The history of its inception begins with the growing conviction in the years
just prior to 1909, that a real and increasing need existed in the city for the
establishment of some central office or agency to fill an evident gap in the local
field of charitable effort. A number of active organizations for benevolent pur-
poses were already in operation: the city department of charities, the churches,
the hospitals, the day nurseries, the Industrial School, the Boys' Club, the Visiting
Nurses' Association (which does nearly all the external hospital work of the city),
the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the
King's Daughters, the Queen's Daughters (a group of noble women who came
from France when the religious orders were suppressed), the Sunshine Society,
the Salvation Army (organized in Waterbury in 1892), all were doing charitable
work, but each along its own particular line and each independently of the others.
As a result, there was considerable repetition of relief ; some beneficiaries were
receiving assistance from several sources without the knowledge, one of the
other; others, in equal or greater need, failed to receive the kind or amount of
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 169
assistance fitted to their necessities. There was no central office from which
anyone could learn whether an applicant for relief was or was not already being
aided by other means. Particularly was the lack felt of some place where the
busy citizen or minister of a church, besought by frequent appeals for aid, could
send an applicant and know that his case would be carefully investigated and that
he would be brought into touch with the agency best suited to care for him.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge at this point the appreciation that is felt for
the inspiration proceeding from the heart and mind of Miss Helen E. Chase,
whose time and means have always been given freely to brighten the lives of
others. Circumstances prevented her from taking an active part in the organi-
zation of the society and thanks are due to a few 7 other public-spirited citizens for
the initial steps. Following their deliberations and their desire to obtain the best
advice on the subject, correspondence was started with the Charity Organiza-
tion Society and Russell Sage Foundation in New York City, which resulted in
sending to Waterbury in January, 1909, Miss Margaret F. Byington, one of the
heads of the department for the extension of organized charity.
Conferences were then held between some of the ministers of the city churches,
the head workers and directors of several philanthropic organizations, and a group
of business men invited for the purpose, at which Miss Byington explained the
objects, principles and methods of charity organization societies. The opinion
was generally expressed by those present that such a society was needed in Water-
bury. As a result of these meetings, a committee of eleven persons was appointed
to take charge of the formation of the proposed society. This committee, as
finally constituted, consisted of representatives from eight churches, from the city
government, and from the general body of business men, and included the fol-
lowing persons: Chairman, John Moriarty; secretary, Robert E. Piatt; John M.
Burrall, Wallace H. Camp, Terrence F. Carmody, Isidore Chase, Louis E. Fitz-
simons. Charles P. Kellogg, William O'Neil, Archibald E. Rice, and J. K. Smith.
Frequent meetings of this committee were held during the winter months. On
February 28, 1909, a general meeting was held at which delegates from the vari-
ous churches and charitable organizations were present, articles of association
were signed by thirty-one persons, and a constitution and by-laws for the pro-
posed society were adopted. A body of thirty-six directors-at-large was elected
at this time and an address was given by J. B. Deacon, manager of the Associated
Charities of Paterson, N. J.
The first regular meeting of the board of directors was held in City Hall
Annex on April 18, 1909, when the officers and executive committee were elected
who had charge of the society during its first year of active existence. A special
public meeting of the society was held on May 25th, in Institute Hall, at which a
revised constitution and by-laws were adopted and James Minnick, superintend-
ent of the Society for Organizing Charity in Providence, R. I., spoke upon some
of the broader aspects of organized charity work.
At all of the meetings of the organizing committee, and later of the execu-
tive committee, much attention was devoted to the nature of the work that it
was proposed to do in Waterbury, and to the question whether there should be
engaged as manager of the society some resident of the place, or whether some
person of experience should be secured elsewhere who had had training in this
particular kind of work. The decision was in favor of engaging an experienced
worker. The executive committee felt itself fortunate in securing in July, 1909,
as manager of the Waterbury society, Howard L. Udell, who had just completed
a year and a half as head of the Associated Charities of Pawtucket, R. I., and
before that had been for three years in the Bureau of Charities in Chicago, part
of the time in charge of one of the large district offices of that society.
170 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The Associated Charities of Waterbury opened its office in the Cowell-Guil-
foile Building, on October I, 1909, under the direction of Mr. Udell.
In the very first nine months of its history, the nature of its work was made
clear. It provided hospital care in 15 cases and it referred patients in 42 in-
stances to the Anti-Tuberculosis League, and in 26 instances to the Visiting Nurses'
Association.
Of the 64 cases of unemployment which were brought to it during the nine
months ending July 1, 1910, not a few were the result of either intemperance or
inefficiency. Thirty applications for help were traced directly to intemperance.
28 to old age, 21 to accidents, 19 to death of the bread-winner or some older
member of the family, 11 to grave mental defects, 7 to poverty and illness attrib-
utable directly to immorality, 4 to the bread-winner being imprisoned, several
to desertion, and 51 to the power of self-support having been destroyed or seri-
ously impaired by the habit of promicuous begging.
During this initial period the Associated Charities was asked to give or with-
hold its endorsement in six instances where outside persons solicited funds in
Waterbury for alleged charitable institutions. Two of these were pretended uni-
versities in the South. Most careful inquiries could not, however, discover any-
thing resembling a university in either of the places. In one there were few, if
any, students, and the man who posed as president evidently reaped considerable
profit out of northern philanthropists, desirous of helping the cause of education
among the colored race. The other was declared by persons having knowledge
of the situation, to be inefficient to the last degree. The organization was also
called upon by out-of-town societies and institutions to make investigations in
twenty-three instances.
The keynote of the second year's labor of the Associated Charities was
sounded at the annual and mid-winter meetings of its board of directors. The
first of these was addressed by Dr. Hastings H. Hart, of the Russell Sage Foun-
dation, on the general subject of "Child-Helping." The speaker compared at
length the advantages of home and institutional care for children and showed the
incomparable superiority of home life as a means of fitting a boy or girl for ulti-
mate citizenship. At the second meeting. Judges Clark, of Hartford, and Math-
ewson, of New Haven, told of the splendid work done in each of these cities by
a woman probation officer, in visiting the homes of neglected or incorrigible chil-
dren, guiding them and their parents toward better living. As a result of their
representations, the meeting placed itself on record as urging the desirability of
appointing a woman probation officer in Waterbury. After a thorough investiga-
tion of the qualifications of various candidates, the choice fell upon Miss Lillian
Greenwood, of Philadelphia, whose services in Waterbury began September 1,
1911.
During the summer of 191 t, the South Main Street playground was opened
through the efforts of the Associated Charities, and Miss Sadie Bleistift, a teacher
in one of the New York public schools and an experienced worker in the recre-
ation centers of that city, was engaged as play-leader, entering on her services
July 1st and continuing until August 31st. During that time her capability and
resourcefulness was the wonder of all who saw her. An attractive feature was
the folk-dancing, in which the girls took part with great enthusiasm, while the
younger ones had their time and talent absorbed by the study of one of Mrs.
John Shotwell's charming playlets.
The regretted and unexpected departure in May, 191 2, of the manager, How-
ard L. Udell, to a position of larger responsibility and remuneration as head of
the Associated Charities in Detroit, Mich., called attention to the affairs of the
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 17]
Waterbury society in a way that his quiet but effective work might not otherwise
have done. As his successor, the executive committee secured Eugene Kerner,
of Newark. X. J., who came highly recommended after two years' experience in
the Organized Charities of Chicago, fourteen months as head of the Ohio Valley
district of the Associated Charities of Pittsburgh, and two years as organizer of
the state-wide antituberculosis campaign in Kentucky.
An interesting event in the record for the year 191 2 was the incorporation of
the society under the general laws of the state, regulating the formation of volun-
tary associations without capital stock.
Some further evidence of the helpful work of the Associated Charities among
the destitute and stricken was brought out in the manager's report for the fiscal
year ended June 30, 1912. Among the 588 families applying to the society in the
year [911-1912 there were found 275 persons suffering from bodily or mental
defects of long standing and. not susceptible to immediate cure. Seventy-one of
these were victims of tuberculosis, 14 suffering from defective sight, 11 were
feeble minded, there were 7 paralytics, there were 6 epileptics, 6 insane. 6 who
suffered from chronic heart trouble, 5 deaf mutes, 5 suffering from rheumatism,
4 handicapped with chronic kidney trouble, 4 totally blind, 3 with deformed feet,
3 affected with serious venereal, trouble, 3 with spinal difficulty, 2 with Bright's
disease, broken back, infantile paralysis, deformed hand, cancer, loss of an arm,
loss of a hand, mental backwardness, loss of a leg, and defective speech. In addi-
tion to these there were 8 families having tubercular history. 6 in which tubercu-
losis was suspected, and 91 cases of alcoholism.
There were 22 instances of sex immorality, 6 families with children in the
reform school, 6 addicted to the habitual use of drugs, 6 truant children, 5 incor-
rigibles. 4 persons with simply a police record. 4 others who had served time in the
penitentiary, 3 privately known to be dishonest, 3 merely irresponsible, 2 sex
degenerates, and 2 deserting mothers.
In the summer of 1912, Waterbury possessed four public playgrounds in addi-
tion to the two conducted respectively by the Waterbury Industrial School and
the Associated Charities.
What the Associated Charities has been able to do in the interest of housing
reform in Waterbury has been, as yet, only tentative. Through the efforts of the
society a committee of the State Conference was enabled to authorize an investi-
gation of the housing conditions of the city. The services of Dr. Carol Aranovici,
formerly with the Bureau of Municipal Research in New York and later at Prov-
idence, were secured by this committee. Under his direction, an investigation
was conducted which covered 1,000 tenement houses in Waterbury and the
result of this survey was presented in a series of graphic stereopticon pictures at
the second meeting of the State Conference on the evening of Sunday. April 14,
1912.
An interesting feature of the activities of 1912 was the organizing of the
Social Service Club, to which all persons having rendered some service to any
one of the city's philanthropic organizations are eligible. It meets one evening
each month, from October to May. Its program consists of a dinner, followed
by an address from some specialist in social work on his own-chosen line, con-
cluding with a general discussion. This club has for its object, chiefly the promo-
tion of acquaintance and good-fellowship among the active workers in the chari-
table field, and secondarily to provide an intellectual stimulus that can not fail to
be a source of added strength for the tasks of the day.
It was in the fiscal years ended June 30, 1914, and June 30. 1915, respectively,
that the Associated Charities had its greatest tasks. During the winter of 19 14
172 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
it rendered some kind of useful service to 775 families, comprising 3,434 individ-
uals, of whom 1,892 were children under fourteen years of age. Twenty-four
nationalities were represented. This number does not include hundreds of home-
less men who applied for assistance.
It met the unusual conditions of hundreds of unemployed by providing 882
days of emergency employment for all able-bodied men with families. It paid
these men daily in the form of cash, food, fuel or rent as seemed best for each
particular case. There was spent in this way $1,335.45. It kept the men in good
physical condition and preserved their independence and self-respect. To the
splendid success of this scheme much credit is due to the city street department,
which furnished the teams, tools and foremen for the work.
It created sewing for a large number of women who were the bread-winners
for the family. The sum of $1,373.08 was spent in this way for labor and mate-
rial. These women turned out 3,800 garments, 2,521 of which were sent to the
Red Cross and Belgian Relief, and the remainder were used locally.
It secured the co-operation of citizens, who provided days work for the unem-
ployed and paid them in cash.
With the return of prosperity came a new problem for the Associated Chari-
ties, — that of providing for those hard hit by the high cost of living. In its report
for the year ended June 30, 1916, the manager says: "There are many families
with a large number of children who are worse off now than before our prosperity
began. We spent $4,415.53 in the form of material relief in giving needed aid
to these families.
"No able-bodied and mentally normal men have applied to the Associated
Charities during the entire year. Only sick, old and physically handicapped are
asking for help now. The present demand for able-bodied men only makes their
case more pitiful.
"Material relief without careful personal service is not enough for these fami-
lies. Where there is illness, careful attention must be given to insure proper med-
ical care. The well members must be given adequate income so that they may
be kept well.
"Where defective eyes are formed, a competent oculist is consulted and glasses
purchased. Where children have improper clothing and shoes for school, the
parents must be persuaded (in some cases forced) to buy them, or if upon inves-
tigation they are found unable to buy these articles, they must be provided for
them. * *
"With the relief goes the care and plan for the future, which is the only
thing that really makes relief worth while. To give a man food one day and not
sufficient thought and service with it to know what will become of him the next
day will secure no benefit for him. The Associated Charities aims to remove as
far as possible the cause of poverty, thus making the need for relief less neces-
sary."
Nor does the work of helpfulness end here. There is the task also of the
Visiting Housekeeper, who is working with scores of families monthly.
As secretary of the Committee on Civilian Relief of the local Red Cross Chap-
ter, the manager of the Associated Charities had charge of the investigations and
disbursements of the fund for dependent families of soldiers called to the Mex-
ican border in 191 6, in the Army service. The workers of the Associated Chari-
ties at all times give freely of their services to kindred social service work, such
the the Red Cross work, Christmas Seal Campaign, Social Service Club, and
others.
. During the fiscal year ended June" 30, 1917, the unusual growth and develop-
WATERBURY AND THE NTAUGATUCK VALLEY 173
inent of the Red Cross work, due to the war, has tested the energies of the Asso-
ciated Charities. Its Red Cross Civilian Relief work has also gone on along the
lines of the Mexican mobilization period.
Its regular work of assistance for the poor and the sick has been looked after
with the expert skill which has given the Associated Charities of Waterbury a
title to the gratitude of the community.
The officers of the organization at present are: John P. Elton, president;
Darragh DeLancey, vice president; Edwin C. Northrop, treasurer; Robert E.
Piatt, secretary; Eugene Kerner, manager; executive committee, Mrs. J. Hobart
Bronson, Mrs. Arthur R. Kimball, Miss Alice Kingsbury, W. S. Jones, Dr. D. B.
Deming, Charles P. Kellogg, Walter D. Makepeace, and Mrs. H. L. Wade.
The directors-at-large elected in 1917 were: Mrs. J. Hobart Bronson, Rev.
F. D. Buckley, Rev. Robert E. Brown, Mrs. W. H. Camp, T. F. Carmody, Miss
Helen E. Chase, Isidore Chase, X. Combellack, Darragh DeLancey, Dr. A. Bed-
ford-Deming, Dr. D. B. Deming, John P. Elton, Mrs. John P. Elton, Dr. F. J.
Erbe, George A. Goss, Mrs. K. D. Hamilton, H. G. Hoadley, Mrs. C. A. Jackson,
William S. Jones, Mrs. A. R. Kimball, Miss Alice Kingsbury, W. D. Makepeace,
Julius Maltby, Dr. James L. Moriarty, John Moriarty, Edwin C. Northrop,
William O'Neil, Miss Katherine L. Peck, Robert E. Piatt, Rev. H. B. Sloat, Mrs.
Archer J. Smith, Cornelius Tracy, Mrs. H. L. Wade, Jay H. Hart.
THE ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS LEAGUE OF WATERBURY
W'aterbury's Anti-Tuberculosis League was officially organized February 16,
1908. During the nine years of its existence, it has a record of upwards of one
hundred and seventy thousand visits to houses in which advice or service was
needed. It has taken out of Waterbury and placed into sanitarium or into health-
ful country surroundings approximately four thousand patients, who thus ceased
to be a menace to family and friends. Outdoor sleeping accommodations have
been provided in several hundred cases. Caretakers have been supplied in many
instances ; milk, food, and medicine have been distributed where needed. The
open air school, now a part of Waterbury's school system, was inaugurated. The
children's clinic has done incalculable good.
These results, thus briefly summarized, give the objects that underlie the
organization of the Waterbury Anti-Tuberculosis League.
It was at a meeting, not well attended, in the early days of 1908, that the first
steps were taken to create the league. At this meeting an address was delivered
by John F. Gunshanan, of Hartford, and the plan of organization was outlined
by the men and women who have been continuously at its helm. These were
Arthur R. Kimball, still the president of the league; Dr. Thomas J. Kilmartin,
secretary throughout its history, and Dr. Elizabeth C. Spencer, of its early execu-
tive committee and now an honorary member.
The plan of organization embodied the election of delegates by the various
fraternal societies to represent them on a central committee. This central com-
mittee, consisting of 156 delegates, met and elected the customary officers and an
executive committee of fifteen, who were empowered to carry on the active work.
The executive committee organized immediately and proceeded to adopt consti-
tution and by-laws. It was early decided that the dispensary system of reaching
and aiding those afflicted was the one best suited for Waterbury and contributions
were solicited from the various societies that had sent delegates. Societies re-
sponded in amounts ranging from five to one hundred dollars, and in a very
short time $1,310.59 was raised in this way. Private contributions brought the
174 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
amount up to $2,037.02, and with this fund as a nucleus the real work began by
the installing of Mary C. Gormley as nurse in charge, the supplying of the needy
with articles of diet suited to their condition, and the providing of means for an
out-of-door life to those who could not otherwise procure it.
It seems only simple justice to make official record in this place of the league's
appreciation of the remarkable and devoted work, in behalf of the success of
Waterbury's first Tag Day, of Dr. Elizabeth C. Spencer, her immediate associates,
and practically all the women of Waterbury. This gave an additional $5,965.28
for the work of the league during the first year.
The actual labors in behalf of Waterbury's victims of the White Plague
began April 20, 1908.
At first, when the patients were few in number, the nurse was able to give
them considerable practical care. But as the number increased, it was evident
that preventive and educational work must take the lead, and the friends and
relatives of the patients must receive instruction that would enable them to give
baths and attend otherwise to the personal comfort and well-being of the patients.
A number of cases were reported by the Board of Health, Board of Charities,
a few by the doctors, and some by the patients themselves, their friends, and other
sources. The favorable cases were discovered by having those who had been
exposed to the disease examined by Doctor Deming at his class meeting on
Wednesday mornings, when possible for the patient to attend, or at his office by
appointment.
A summary of the first year's work is interesting. Fifteen patients were sent
to the Gaylord Farm Sanatorium, only two of whom were self-supporting. Two
patients were supported by the league, three by different fraternal organizations,
one by the Board of Charities, five by individuals interested in work being done,
and two by presidents of manufacturing concerns.
Two patients, rejected from Gaylord Farm Sanatorium, were sent to a sani-
tarium in Rutland, Mass. One of 'these was self-supporting and one was sup-
ported by two clergymen.
One patient was sent to the Hartford Hospital, and one was sent to Ireland
by the Board of Charities ; one was sent to Ireland by relatives ; one to Cleveland,
O., by fraternal organizations; one to Denver, Colo., by a benevolent society; one
went South by the aid of friendly subscriptions ; one went to Providence, R. I.,
and one ex-patient of Gaylord Farm Sanatorium went to work in Westfield,
Mass. Five were sent to country places where homes had been secured.
One hundred and fifty-two patients were visited by the nurse, a total of 1,872
visits being made.
Fourteen patients were ordered to sleep out of doors on verandas, protected
by drop curtains; twenty reclining chairs were loaned to patients while taking the
cure at home, and to ten patients room and board allowance were given.
At the beginning of the second year, it was found necessary to engage the
services of a second nurse, and Miss Josephine V. Hayes, a graduate of the New
York City Training School, having had considerable experience, and being a very
efficient Waterbury nurse, received the appointment. The work of instructing
and helping patients in their homes was therefore strengthened and a great deal
of good has been accomplished.
During the second year, 162 new cases were given service and 3,850 visits
were recorded by nurses. Of the 27 patients sent to Gaylord Farm Sanatorium,
in 1909, only 6 were self-supporting, 8 were supported by private individuals, 8
received partial support by the league, 2 were entirely supported by the league,
1 by the city, 9 received help from manufacturers and fraternal organizations.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 175
During this year the work grew apace, and Dr. Dudley B. Deming, assistant
secretary, recorded over one hundred examinations. Dr. John E. Farrell was
appointed to take special charge of a children's anti-tuberculosis class.
In 1912 the opening of the pavilion for children in the Gaylord Farm Sana-
torium supplied a long-felt need. Two Waterbury children were sent there by
the league immediately after the opening.
Two years ago the open air school, which had been conducted by the league
with eminent success, was turned over to the school system. It is now conducted
during the school year on the roof of the Clark School. The average number of
pupils is forty. These are all those in the public schools who show a tendency to
lung trouble, and who have permission of parents to attend the school. Break-
fast and noonday lunches are supplied, and these consist of the diet so essential
in cases with tubercular tendencies.
In August, 1 91 7, the league occupied its new rooms in Lincoln House. Here-
after it will have splendid accommodations in which to continue its work.
The records for the last two years ended February, 1917, show the growth of
the work. During this two year period, 362 cases were sent to Gaylord Farm,
586 were sent to state sanitaria, 145 to county or other institutions, a total of
1,093 removed from Waterbury and no longer a menace to the healthy. During
this two year period, league nurses visited 3,539 cases needing special attention.
In addition, 65,000 visits were made to houses in which advice or service was
needed.
During the nine years of its existence, Waterbury's citizens have provided
well for its needs, the total approximating close to seventy-five thousand dollars.
The officers of the league are as follows : President, A. R. Kimball ; first vice
president, J. L. Saxe ; second vice president, S. F. Gorham; secretary, Dr. T. J.
Kilmartin ; assistant secretary, Dr. Dudley B. Deming ; treasurer, Walter W.
Holmes; publicity secretary, Eugene Kerner; executive committee, Oscar Zieg-
ler, John Robinson, John F. Galvin, Christian F. Lund, William Tysoe, F. S.
Gorham, Rocco Mancini, Paul G. Schultze, A. W. Darley, William Dinneen,
D. L. Summey, W. J. Pape, Albert Lampke, Dr. Chas. Engelke.
THE FIRST "UNITED CHARITIES"
On April 30, 1894, at a meeting held in the old Y. M. C. A. Hall the "United
Charities" of Waterbury was organized. This to begin with co-operated with the
Association for Christian Visitation and Charity which had been organized in
1891 by the Protestant churches of the city. At this meeting in April E. M.
Dickinson represented the association for Christian Visitation and Charity, Mrs.
R. N. Blakeslee represented the King's Daughters, Henry W. Scovill represented
the Boys' Club, Patrick Holahan the Catholic churches, Horace G. Hoadley the
Citizens' Bureau. Later the Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Association, the Indus-
trial School and other like organizations joined. Until January 1, 1896, the
expense of maintaining the central office was borne by the directors of Christian
Visitation and Charity, who also continued their work, particularly that con-
nected with a broom factory established in 1893. Its secretary was Edward M.
Dickinson. For two years it held its quarterly meetings in February, May,
August and November, but in 1897 the organization work waned and the activities
were again taken up by the various societies.
TITK WATERBURY DAY NURSERY
The Waterbury Day Nursery, the object of which is the daily care of children
under ten, whose mothers are forced to self-support outside their homes, had its
176 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
beginning in February, 1895, in a small building on Leavenworth Street, later
the site of the tire house. It began with the care of three babies whose cribs
were market baskets, but under the devoted care of Mrs. Steinmeyer, the first
matron, it grew both in number and equipment. In 1897 it moved to Spring
Street, and in 1898 it secured the home on Kingsbury Street. This, with a large
yard in the rear for a playground, made an ideal place for its work.
One of its beautiful customs established since its second year is the annual
Christmas tree which all of its children come to enjoy.
In 191 1 its total attendance was 9,322. Its largest record for one day was
fifty and its smallest eight.
This record of service has been kept up through the years since then, with
over fifty children on the list and an average daily attendance of thirty-six. Its
record for May, 1917, was 762; for June, 745; for July, 948; for August, 648;
for September, 639; for October, 646; for November, 858.
The equipment for its work is ideal. The kindergarten is finished in red
enamel and has in it all of the usual appurtenances of educational beginnings.
The baby room is in white enamel and has thirteen cradles. In this room are
low circular tables with playthings. There are fine bathing facilities for the
children.
Dinner and supper are served the children daily. While no children over
eight years of age are cared for, meals are provided for any little ones that
require such service.
At present Airs. L. M. Fowler is superintendent.
The officers of the Day Nursery are : President, Edith Kingsbury ; secretary,
Mrs. H. Milroy Steele ; treasurer, Martha R. Driggs.
THE SOUTH MAYD HOME
Mrs. Thomas Donaldson was the founder of Southmayd Home. Although
it was not opened until 1898 it was in her mind as early as 1889, when she
deposited $10 in a savings bank as the nucleus of a fund for the establishment
of an Old Ladies' Home in Waterbury. Within four years she had secured
$1,700 and many pledges, so that on June 26, 1894, the property on North Main
Street on which the home was first located was purchased.
It was the original purpose of Mrs. Donaldson to establish the home for
members of the First Congregational Church only. But gradually the plan
broadened, and although the lot and home were deeded to the First Church it
was decided to make the home non-sectarian.
The name "Southmayd" was suggested by Dr. Joseph Anderson in honor of
one of the early pastors of the church.
Its first board of managers was selected in December, 1894, and consisted of
Mrs. Thomas Donaldson, Mrs. G. S. Parsons, Mrs. W. E. Riley, Mrs. C. F.
Chapin, Mrs. O. S. Northrop, Mrs. C. A. Hamilton, Miss Susan H. Cairns of the
First Church, Mrs. A. A. Blackmail, Miss Charlotte B. Merriman, Mrs. A. C.
Northrop, Mrs. A. I. Goodrich, Miss Caroline A. Piatt representing the other
churches of the city. H. H. Peck, E. C. Lewis and Cornelius Tracy were named
as advisory committee.
The managers did not meet until 1897. Mrs. Donaldson had, however, been
busy and in August, 1897, announced that the Southmayd Home was free of
debt and would be opened in the spring.
At the first meeting of the board of managers, January 26, 1898, Mrs. A. I.
Goodrich was chosen president; Miss Susan H. Cairns, secretary, which position
WATERBURY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY 177
she still occupies, and Mrs. Thomas Donaldson, treasurer. It was not opened in
the spring, hut the delay was brief, for on September 26, 1898, the home was
dedicated, its first occupant being Mrs. Betsey 15. Merritt, eighty-one years old
and blind. She died at the home October 7, 1900.
On January 6, 1901, the board selected Mrs. Thomas Donaldson as superin-
tendent and she occupied this position until 191 1. Mrs. Donaldson died in
November, 1916.
The home on North Main Street was entirely inadequate, even with an annex
which was later added, for it could accommodate but six old ladies.
In 191 1 the former Nurses' Home, of twenty-five rooms, part of the older
buildings of the Waterbury Hospital, was leased to the Southmayd Home
managers and it now accommodates sixteen old ladies.
The organization has, however, purchased a lot on the Boulevard and will
begin the construction of an ideal Old Ladies' Home with more than double
the present capacity, as soon as building conditions permit and as quickly as a
building fund can be obtained. The need of this is imperative, as the applica-
tions are now far beyond capacity.
The Southmayd Home has, through the bequest of Elisha Leavenworth and
E. C. Lewis, about $90,000 in its maintenance fund, but this cannot be touched
for building purposes.
The officers and directors of the Southmayd Home are as follows : President,
Mrs. W. H. Pierce; vice president, Mrs. W. E. Riley; secretary, Miss S. H.
Cairns; treasurer, Mrs. H. G. Anderson.
Members of the board are : Mrs. W. H. Pierce, Mrs. W. E. Riley, Miss S. H.
Cairns, Mrs. H. G. Anderson, Mrs. W. W. Holmes, Mrs. C. A. Hamilton, Mrs.
D. B. Deming, Mrs. W. S. Kellogg, Mrs. C. H. Merriam, Mrs. A. D. Field,
Mrs. J. A. Coe.
Members of advisory board: Cornelius Tracy, H. H. Peck, Edgar S. Lincoln.
THE KIXG'.S DAUGHTERS
The King's Daughters was organized in May, 1888, and of its ten original
members there are now living Mrs. I. N. Russell, Mrs. R. William Hampson, Mrs.
Ralph N. Blakeslee and Miss Florence Mabel Chapman. Mrs. A. I. Goodrich,
who was its president for twenty-five years, died three years ago. She was also
among the founders. The organization is non-denominational and does its work
of benevolence and charity quietly and effectively. It takes many cases in hand
which could not well be looked after by the Associated Charities. In many
instances it supplies weekly allowances to really deserving poor.
At Christmas time it distributes baskets of fruit to its long list of people
needing help.
In November, 191 6, the King's Daughters purchased the three-story building
at 38 Grove Street. In this, to begin with, six girls were provided with room
and board. In November, 191 7, there are twenty-two girls in Grove Hall and
many applicants that cannot be considered because of lack of accommodations.
The young women are given room and board for $6.00 or $7.00 weekly. The
property cost the King's Daughters $15,000, and this has nearly all been paid off.
There are at present eighty members who pay annual dues and who secure
donations for the work of the organization.
Its president is Mrs. Ellen J. YVhiton, the second to serve it in this capacity
since its organization. Other officers are : Secretary, Miss Flora Church ; treas-
urer. Miss Helen Chase. The board of managers consists of the officers and
Vol. 1—12
178 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Mrs. Ralph N. Blakeslee, Mrs. S. R. Kelsey, Mrs. George S. Bissett and Airs.
Rosa Simmons. The house mother is Mrs. Elizabeth C. Osborne.
THE BABY WELFARE STATION
The Visiting Nurses' Association of Waterbury among its many notable good
deeds since its organization has done nothing more beneficial to the community
than the establishment in June, 1916, of the Baby Welfare Station at 904 Bank
Street. There clinics are held weekly on Tuesday and Friday with volunteer
medical services. A nurse is daily in attendance, and until 1 1 o'clock every morn-
ing pasteurized milk is sold at wholesale to mothers.
The Ladies' Aid Society has been a helpful factor in the work. This consists
of Miss Edith Kingsbury, Mrs. John N. Lewis, Mrs. Fred. S. Chase, Miss Martha
R. Driggs, Miss North, Mrs. Henry L. Wade.
THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTERS
The Queen's Daughters is a Catholic women's charitable organization, founded
in 1900 with Father Dunnegan as its first chaplain. Since then it has been
served in this capacity by Father Dooley of Sacred Heart Parish, Father James
Broderick and now Father J. A. Doherty of Immaculate Conception. It helps
the poor and sick throughout the city by furnishing food, clothing, fuel, medicine,
etc., by employing as nurses for the needy sick the Sisters of the Holy Ghost,
who made 1,026 visits during the year, to November 30, 191 7, and by giving
treatment at St. Mary's Hospital when necessary. Its members now number
362. Its officers are : Mrs. B. Doran, president ; Margaret Higgins, vice presi-
dent; Mrs. J. Powers, recording secretary; Anna Dwyer, financial secretary;
Rev. J. A. Doherty, treasurer and chaplain.
The Sisters of the Holy Ghost are French nuns who sought refuge in the
United States on their expulsion with many other religious orders from France.
THE DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA
The Daughters of America, Lincoln Council No. 5, is the Waterbury branch
of the national organization of that name. The local council has been in existence
since 1905. It pays only funeral benefits. Its membership is about thirty.
Its present officers are : Curator, Mrs. Lillian Schroeder ; recording secretary,
Mrs. Minnie Clark; financial secretary, C. L. Clark; treasurer, J. A. Schroeder.
THE SALVATION ARMY
The Salvation Army began its work in Waterbury in April, 1892, and the first
officers in charge were Capt. Alexander Lamb and Lieut. W. Salmon. The first
meetings were largely street gatherings, and night after night required police
protection. A little later the interest increased and the old rink, which stood
on the site of the present Buckingham Music Hall, was engaged for the meetings.
Even though these were held indoors, they were by no means always of a peaceful
nature. In fact, there is a story which has been handed down as an authentic
Salvation Army human document, which tells how Captain Lamb was thrown
out of a window by the roughs who had come to the rink to break up the meeting.
But the work grew as it has grown in all American cities. The interest of
Waterbury in the institution may be said to date from the mass meeting at the
VVATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 179
Auditorium October 29, 1894, when the head of the army, Gen. William Booth,
addressed both indoor and overflow gatherings.
In 1895 the social or industrial work of the army was started by Capt. John
York. This was made possible by the helpfulness of Waterbury citizens. Henry
W. Scovill loaned the army the land on which its first woodyard was established.
Ralph N. Blakeslee gave his team to draw the wood, and there were many gen-
erous people who gave the money to buy the wood or gave the wood. This was
very successful through several cold winters, and was one of the best aids the
city had in its charitable work.
In 1900 the army was in a position to occupy a building of its own, and the
present two-story structure at 281 Bank Street was erected by Mrs. Ida Norton.
While it was used for a time, it was not until 1905 that it was bought outright.
One ground floor store is rented out, and the remainder is used for the religious
work of the army. The officers in charge today feel that the Salvation Army
needs new and larger quarters and in a section where it can be more useful.
One other notable visit, that of Commander Booth-Tucker, now in charge of
the Salvation Army work in India, in 1905, attracted local attention to its work
and was followed by generous assistance on the part of public-spirited citizens
of Waterbury.
From 1905 on, the army leased the building at 324 South Main Street for its
industrial work. This proved of exceptional value in the charitable work of the
city. To supplement the work done in this building, Mr. Scovill loaned the army
the property at the corner of Field and Meadow streets, where baling of paper
was done and furniture and garments were sorted for distribution in the larger
building. During the past five years, six teams have been employed collecting
furniture, garments, shoes, paper, in a wide area. Twenty-five to thirty men
have been given employment. This work, until April, 191 7, was in charge of
Envoy Harry G. Frese.
At that time the rented building at 324 South Main Street was sold, the rent
was trebled, and the army forced to give up its industrial work in Waterbury, as
it was found impossible to find another suitable location at a reasonable outlay.
This was followed by the transfer of Envoy Frese to Boston, where he is now
helping at the Salvation Army's social center. The teams were shipped to Boston
and Hartford, and the army is waiting a change in rental conditions so that the
work can be resumed here.
In the meantime, the religious work continues in charge of Adjutant and
Mrs. A. J. Tilley, who have been here for three years, coming from Framingham,
Mass. They began their Salvation Army work thirty years ago, as pioneer
officers in Newfoundland, and went from there to Canada. For the last twenty
years they have been with the army in nearly every large town in New England.
The work of the Salvation Army has appealed to the best people here, and its
list of annual donors contains the name of nearly every public-spirited citizen
of Waterbury. H. B. Tuttle of Naugatuck, A. A. Benedict, I. H. Chase, H. H.
Peck and Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Reed Kimball are among those who have in the
past decade been particularly helpful.
Just now Adjutant and Mrs. Tilley are arranging to have the Waterbury
branch represented in the great war work done by the Salvation Army, and which
is much along the lines of the Red Cross work.
CHAPTER XV
REVIEW OF WATERBURY'S MANUFACTURES
THE CENTER OF THE BRASS INDUSTRY ITS PERCENTAGE OF OUTPUT BY DECADES
CENSUS FIGURES SHOW STRANGE CHANGES — PRODUCTION OF NEEDLES, PINS,
HOOKS AND EYES NUMBER AND WAGES OF WORKERS IN WATERBURY FACTORIES
SINCE 1899 CENSUS FIGURES ON VALUE OF WATERBURY PRODUCTS WHAT
WATERBURY MANUFACTURES CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT SEX OF WAGE
EARNERS THE WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION LAW FACTORY CONSTRUCTION
SINCE I9OO.
The older readers of this volume, whose memories run back to the Waterbury
of the '90s, will remember some of the qualms with which many of our native
New Englanders, who then constituted the bulk of the population, regarded the
future of the city.
It had been growing satisfactorily in business and population, having estab-
lished itself as the brass center of the United States and having definitely out-
grown, by the census of 1900, such former leaders or old rivals as Norwich, Meri-
den, Danbury and New Britain. It did a thriving business in pins, machinery
and clocks. It was the home of the Waterbury watch.
But to many earnest observers of the times, all this seemed to be against
nature. New England as a whole was working against difficulties which must
cause her manufactures to decay as her agriculture had in the preceding gen-
eration. Cotton mills were developing in the South, shoe factories in the
Middle West, machine shops in Pennsylvania, brass foundries in Illinois and
Michigan. New England was doomed. The argument against Waterbury was
stronger than against New England as a whole. All of our raw materials
came from long distances. Coal had to be hauled from Pennsylvania and no cop-
per was mined within a thousand miles. With the upbuilding of the industries
of the Middle West, and consequent shifting westward of the center of demand,
was it reasonable that we could continue to haul copper and spelter past the
factories of so many of our customers, and ship it back to them as brass bearing
the charge of a double freight rate? Waterbury had no natural advantages, —
absolutely none. With the industrial awakening of the enterprising West, she
must cease to grow and her business must languish! In 1898 the opening of
Center Street was opposed at a public hearing on the ground, that Waterbury had
ceased to grow and would never need another business street.
There was another cause for uneasiness in the "trust" movement which
marked the closing years of that decade. Our industries might be gathered into
the grasp of giant corporations whose controlling spirits, destitute alike of local
affiliations and decency of sentiment, would cold-bloodedly close down many
factories on the ground that Waterbury was not a logical site for an industry,
When the International Silver Company acquired the local silver plate factories
and promptly vacated the newly-built Rogers & Hamilton factory, the gloomiest
180
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i— i
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VVATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 181
prophecies seemed confirmed. To the minds of the prophets of evil it was a
sign and a warning.
One of the capable manufacturers of Waterbury, who has been a wizard in
making two crucible furnaces blossom where one had previously shone, was asked
a few years ago whether the iqio census, then being taken, would indicate that
Waterbury was in danger of losing her position as the seat of the American
brass trade, lie said frankly that he did not know. He knew the percentage of
growth of his own enterprises but not the proportion of the brass business
that was done in Waterbury. But he answered in terms of brick and mortar.
He pointed out that the continuous enlargements of the Naugatuck Valley brass
foundries was the best answer to any misgivings as to the future of the brass trade
hereabouts.
"The brass industry in Connecticut," says Lathrop in his valuable monograph,
"The Brass Industry," published in 1909, "affords a notable example of concen-
tration. In 1880, 76%; in 1890, 70%; in 1900, 71%; and in 1905, y^/o of the
rolling of brass and copper and the manufacture of the same was returned by
the census as centered in the State of Connecticut. This concentration has been
accomplished, notwithstanding the entire absence of raw materials within the
state, and without any near absorbing market, except as such has appeared in the
course of the development of the industry itself. The gross product of the brass
mills is now more than seventy million dollars a year. There was, in 1900, no
example of specialization involving so large a product which was as notable.
* * * Connecticut is retaining her hold upon the brass industry in increasing
rather than in diminishing proportion."
The early census schedules were not consistently classified and some confusion
exists as to former conditions, but it is clear that textile manufacturers were for a
long time more important in this state than the brass industry. In 1900, however,
the product of all the textile mills combined fell below that of 1880, while in
1890 brass manufacture became the leading industry in the state, and with its
allied lines of manufacture had a gross product 25% larger than that of all the
textiles. In 1905 the rolling mills alone had a product equal to that of the
textile industry, while the addition of allied branches produced a product more
than twice that of the textiles.
"From the first," says Lathrop, "Waterbury has been the recognized center
in the country of the brass industry, and within the city itself this has of
course been the leading industry." Although the census apparently confuses
manufactured and unmanufactured brass or treats them differently at successive
census periods, the returns showed in 1890 that Waterbury was making 31% of
the brassware of the United States and 40% of the brassware of Connecticut.
In 1900, 48^ of the brassware of the country and 88% of the brassware of the
state came from Waterbury. Account must be taken here, however, of a failure
to distinguish a change which had taken place. Formerly practically all of the
brass mills in the state both rolled brass and manufactured brassware. This con-
dition prevailed in 1890 but a change w y asi taking place. The foundry and rolling
mills were a logical unit, the brassware mill another, and plants tended to
specialize. Some important exceptions existed, however, of which the Scovill
Manufacturing Company is an instance of a great concern which casts, rolls and
remanufactures its brass. While the separation spoken of was taking place the
product of some plants might be classed either as "brass and copper, rolled" or
"brassware" according as to which constituted at the time the greater volume of
business.
182 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
These conditions resulted in some surprising vagaries in the census figures.
For instance :
Brass and Copper, Rolled (Entire Country).
1879 1889 1899
Wage-earners 5,082 2,698 8,459
Value of Products $14,329,871 $8,381,472 $44,309,829
Brass Castings (Entire Country).
1879 1889 1899
Wage-earners 6,237 10,943 9,154
Value of Products $10,808,742 $24,344,434 $23,891,348
Brassware.
1879 1889 1899
Wage-earners 1,142 7,157 8,770
Value of Products $1,523,098 $13,615,172 $16,803,764
To accept these figures must be to suppose that from 1879 to 1889 brass
casting operations more than doubled but brass rolling fell off nearly one-half,
while the manufacture of brassware, largely out of sheet brass, increased nearly
900 per cent. The 1910 census volume on manufactures admits this inconsistency
in the figures on brass rolling and ascribes it to "changes in the classification of
reports of some establishment." From 1899 to 1909, it points out, there was
greater uniformity in the method of classifying.
Obviously, estimates of the relative percentages of brass rolling, brass casting,
etc., done by Waterbury, Naugatuck Valley, or Connecticut concerns cannot be
accurately made from the census figures for these earlier periods and compari-
sons extending back forty years are untrustworthy.
There has been a change in the classification, however, since 1899, bronze
products and reclaimed brass being included in the 1904, 1909 and 1914 brass
classification. This now includes the following subdivisions of the heading
"Brass and Bronze Products:"
Brass : Ingot brass and shapes for remanuf acture.
Brass and Copper, Rolled : Sheets, bars, rods, etc.
Brass Castings and Finishings : Brass foundry work and finishing as dis-
tinguished from lighter brassware ; car and engine brasses ; refining brass ; oiling
devices ; safety steam appliances ; brass spigots ; hose couplings.
Brassware : Ornaments for furniture, stair plates and stair rods, fenders,
screens, plates, novelties, metal spinning, brass tubing.
Bronze Products : It will be seen that the above list contains many articles
that are not in Waterbury 's line at all while on the other hand, "Foundry and
.Machine Shop Products" (primarily iron and steel wares) contains the following
subdivision in which some characteristic Waterbury and Naugatuck Valley prod-
ucts will be recognized :
Hardware : Locks, brass draping chains, metal curtain rods, fancy uphol-
stery nails, trunk trimmings ; cabinet, car, carriage, casket, furniture, piano and
organ hardware.
However, there is no doubt that we are living in a brass state, valley and
city. The leadership is plainly set forth by the census bureau which sets forth
that in 1909 Connecticut made 44.6 per cent of the brass and bronze products
66,932,969
53,916,445
49,059,000
44.6
527
55-3
31,061,875
19,086,964
20,238,000
21.3
19-5
22.8
16,409,613
16,297,911
11.0
15-9
4,445,658
5,382,761
4,147452
3-o
5-2
WATERBURY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY 183
of the United States, the two states next in order being New York with 14.8 per
cent and Michigan with 9.3 per cent. As to the increase or decrease between
censuses, the only figures exactly comparable are for 1904, 1909 and 1914, the
1899 figures being taken on a slightly different basis, and figures for previous
census years being subject to vagaries. The comparison for these four manu-
facturing censuses is as follows:
BRASS AND BRONZE PRODUCTS
I9H I9O9 I904 1899
United States $162,199,019 $149,989,058 $102,407,104 $88,654,000
Connecticut 69,353,103
Per Cent of U. S 42.1
Waterbury 32,624,187
Per Cent of U. S 20.1
Ansonia
Per Cent of U. S... 10.7
Bridgeport
Per Cent of U. S.. .
The home of the brass industry is thus shown to be holding, its own. The
addition to the brass classification of articles in which we do not compete and the
inclusion in other schedules of some of our typical brass products, vitiates exact
comparisons with earlier census reports while emphasizing the general conclusions
to be drawn from them.
The census bureau finds in the localization of the industry hereabouts one of
the remarkable examples of industrial specialization worthy of emphasis in the
special chapter devoted to the subject. There are four large industries in which
Connecticut leads all other states : Brass and bronze, cutlery, firearms and plated
ware. In three of the four Waterbury is interested and in one of them she is the
leading manufacturing city.
There is another, smaller but still significant, industry in which both Connecti-
cut and Waterbury lead. It is the classification of "needles, pins and hooks and
eyes." All three of these articles are never made in the same plant, yet they are
historically and technically closely associated, so perhaps the classification is not
unnatural. Here are the figures :
PRODUCTION OF NEEDLES, PINS, HOOKS AND EYES
IC/>4 1909 I914
I "nited States $4,/55>5 8 9 $6,694,095 $7,890,879
Connecticut 3,062,193 4.236,036 5,108,556
64-5% 63.3% 64.7%
Waterbury. of course, produces an important part, perhaps the major part,
of these pins and hooks and eyes, while Torrington similarly attends to the pro-
duction of the needles, but the census reports do not go into too much detail
because the number of plants engaged is so small that to do so would tend to
disclose individual operations. The case is similar with clocks and watches made
in Waterbury, which are listed under "all other products" so as not to disclose the
operations of individual plants.
184 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
With these lines of manufacture lumped in the Waterbury manufacturing
figures, the foundries and machine shops appear in the schedules as the second
industry in size for which figures are separately given. The growth in this line
from 1904 to 1909 has been especially significant:
1904 1909
Number of plants 13 23
Persons engaged 899 2,167
Capital engaged $1,409,000 $3,985,000
Salaries and wages 628,000 1,563,000
Value of products 1,335,000 3,558,000
Such capacity for development in a highly competitive industry indicates that
Waterbury's machine shops and foundries are serving distinct needs both of their
district and elsewhere and are less dependent upon easy access to cheap coal,
iron and steel than on the command of technical knowledge and skill in handicraft
which are native among our people.
Waterbury, then, may feel secure of the future of its leading industry, which
is localized also in the Naugatuck Valley and in Connecticut and has generations
of stability behind it. Dr. Anderson expressed the belief that it was our poor
soil which turned the energies of Waterbury's people to manufacturing. Brass
having been chosen and the primacy secured, the skilled labor trained, and the
inventive ability developed, capital accumulated in the hands of men born in
the business, the exacting technique of the business tended to keep it centered
here. It is shown in Lathrop's history that after the beginning of what came
to be the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company in 1823, there was not
a single enterprise in existence in 1900 in Connecticut or outside of it, except
the Manhattan Brass Company of New York City, which had been organized
independently of the mills in the Naugatuck Valley. Of the five outside Con-
necticut in 1895, one has since become a branch of the American Brass Company.
Since that time two of comparatively recent origin have entered the trade, and
one, the Chase Rolling Mill Company, has begun operations in Waterbury, but
the growth of the local mills has apparently exceeded by far that of its outside
competitors. The next census will probably show Waterbury's position in its
basic industry to be more secure than ever.
Nearly all of the other industries of the city are affiliated with brassmaking
in either supplying its needs or using its product. The machine shops are here
to devise and build the machinery which make the product and form it into
articles of utility, the brassware factories (or "cutting-up shops," as the workmen
say) taking the sheets and wire and fashioning them for consumption. In this
class finally belong the clock, watch and pin industries, which grew out of the
parent brass mills. They could have originated in any locality and brass sheets
or wire would have been shipped to them, but the brass lore was here, with the
knowledge of handling our peculiar metal and the native ingenuity required to
make tools and machinery and devise methods to turn out small parts and articles
economically and rapidly.
It must be remembered that the strategic basis of our closely interlocked
industries is the brass casting shop and the brass rolling mill, usually operating
together, and that successful operation of these call for technical knowledge and
skill which are not widespread and in this country are generally acquired in
this district. The brassware manufacturers tend to group near their source of
supply, which is the rolling mill. In 1 904, Connecticut was able to report that
more than four-fifths of the brass and copper was rolled within the state and
that more than one-half of the brassware was made within her borders.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 185
The great extensions that have been made by the brass companies since 1914
have brought up the question whether there will be business enough to keep
them going after the war. Undoubtedly a period of readjustment must come,
but for some years after the war there must be a continued demand for replace-
ment which has been neglected during the period of hostilities and for the
enormous and inevitable work of reconstruction necessitated by war devastation.
Many observers foresee five years of active demand for Waterbury's goods and
that is as far as foresight will go in most human affairs. By that time, the
expansion of the country's business and the great possibilities of permanent
export trade may have enabled the peace demand to overtake the facilities
created for war purposes. It was stated by John H. Goss in 1916 at a conference
between manufacturers and railroad operating officials that the Scovill Manu-
facturing Company had not built and would not build any factory construction
that it did not expect to occupy permanently after the war.
Some large local concerns have already made inquiries as to new methods of
marketing and advertising products which can be manufactured in their plants.
Such a method of taking up a temporary slack after the war. would be a
departure from local practice. The tradition has been that Waterbury's energies
are best devoted to improving productive methods, leaving the marketing to
others. The city produced goods which were largely materials for other manu-
facturers. When the sheets or wire were re-manufactured in Waterbury, it
was generally on order. The principal marketing successes were made over
outside trademarks. Probably the time has come to enter these wider fields, but
it can be pointed out that so far the accustomed policies have served the city
very well.
The fact that Waterbury contributes to the common stock of goods so many
thousands of articles of such varied uses, and so many sizes and shapes, but
invariably articles of use rather than luxury, has stabilized the manufacturing
business to a degree which might not have been attained if the product had been
a comparatively few specialized lines with a varying demand. It is literally true
and has been for years that it is almost impossible to make anything from an
umbrella to a pair of shoes or a suit of clothes, from a small electric motor to a
locomotive or a battleship, from a trunk or handbag to a great office building
or hotel, without creating a demand for something made of brass or copper
and sending to Waterbury. ^/*\(^ ^^^u^h
Waterbury is known as the Brass City" and it has been entitled to this
significant name since 1858, when it had twenty-five corporations in that industry.
In 1873 there were twenty-seven companies in the brass business, and in 1896
thirty-nine were in the brass or kindred industries. The combinations that have
since been made have greatly reduced this number, but vastly increased plants
and outputs. For 1900 Waterbury produced 48 per cent of the brass ware of
the country; in 1904 the figure was 42.2 per cent; in 1909 it was 21 per cent of
all the brass and bronze produced in the country. The census of manufactures
for 19 14 makes this figure 20.1 per cent.
The census of manufactures for 1914 gives the total of brass, bronze and
copper products as $162,199,019, and credits Connecticut with $69,353,103, 42.1
per cent of the United States' total. Of this Connecticut total the Waterbury
output is given by the census as $32,624,187, or 20.1 per cent of the United
States' total.
With this percentage in mind, that Waterbury's output was approximately
one-half of the state output, the following figures can be easily reduced to give
fairly exact estimates for Waterbury's 1914 record:
186 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The number of establishments in the brass, bronze and copper industries in
Connecticut for 1914 were 67 ; the average number of wage earners, 16,781 ;
primary horse power, 57,033; capital, $51,886,000; wages, $9,846,000; cost of
materials, $53,886,000; value of products, $69,353,103.
In 1 91 7 the number of factory employees in the brass industry in Waterbury
is approximately 25,000. This is a conservative figure. The wages are nearly
$18,000,000, and the value of products for the state will be nearly, if not over,
$140,000,000.
Manufacturing in Waterbury has taken a remarkable step forward since
191 5, the beginning of the period of large munition orders from abroad. This
trade flowed to a greater or less degree into almost every plant in the city. The
totals for the last two years, giving value of products and number and wages of
employees, would show, judging from the experience of individual plants, much
more than double those of 1914, the last Government statistics now available.
As an illustration : At that date the number of employes at the Scovill Manu-
facturing Company plant was 7,500. Today it is 13,500. Wages have increased
on the average. from twenty to thirty per cent, so that it is evident that the figures
given here for 1914 must be much more than doubled to get at even a fair
estimate for 1917. In the value of output, it is clear that the doubling and even
quadrupling of plants, means a tremendous increase over the 1914 figures.
While the actual tonnage has more than doubled, its value can only be estimated
by taking into consideration also the increase in prices of raw and finished
products. Thus on October 28, 1914, both Lake and electrolytic copper were
quoted at n.50; spelter at St. Louis was 4.95. On October 26, 1916, both Lake
and electrolytic copper were quoted at 28.50, and spelter was at 9.30. Other
materials used in the industries in Waterbury had the same phenomenal rise.
With this clearly in mind, the census figures form a basis for 19 17 estimates.
WAGE EARNERS IN WATERBURY ( CENSUS FIGURES)
Number Wages
1899 13,225 $ 6,691,000
1904 15,406 8,016,000
1909 20,170 1 1,244,000
1914 20,189 1 !, 503,000
1917 (est.) 35,ooo 25,000,000
VALUE OF WATERBURy's PRODUCTS (CENSUS FIGURES)
Value No. of Plants Capital
1899 $30,330,300 124 $21,967,000
1904 3 2 ,367,359 143 32,950,000
I9°9 50,349, 8l ° 169 44,6"53.ooo
1914 50,659,000 190 50,288,000
The figures given in the census for 1914 on fuel used for power are interesting.
Thus Waterbury's industries in 1914 used 76,210 gross tons of anthracite coal,
143,848 net tons of bituminous coal, 3,157 net tons of coke, 84.943 barrels of oil,
28.748,000 cubic feet of gas.
A GENERAL REVIEW
By specializing and by devoting brains and tenacity to its business, Waterbury
has developed the manufacture and multiplied the uses of brass, copper and
WATERBURY AND THE NTAUGATUCK VALLEY 187
( lerman silver until they have created markets that are world-wide. They now
practically control these trades in the United States.
Waterbury is credited with having a larger number of skilled artisans than
any other city of equal size in the world. The products of Waterbury can be
found in every quarter of the civilized world. The Ingersoll watch at the
Waterbury Clock Company's immense factor)-, long- ago reached the guaranteed
output of more than 12,000 daily. The Watcrbury-Ingersoll, made at the Ingersoll
plant in Waterbury. has reached nearly 2,000 daily.
No city in the world has such ;i reputation for buttons of all kinds. The
button industry dates back to 1760, at least, when Joseph Hopkins made them
of sterling si her, and to last forever. The products of Waterbury button fac-
tories today reach every country on the face of the earth.
Waterbury has made lamps and lamp trimmings for nearly fifty years, and
for over thirty years this industry has been a great factor in the growth of the
city. Every factory in the city, accustomed to lead in the small brass goods, makes
some sort of lamp trimming. In addition to the regular lamp burners for house-
hold use, there is the lantern, — the original Deitz and its imitations and several
others in whole or part, and perhaps as great an industry as any of this character,
the mantel gas burners of several varieties. Against all odds the manufacturers
have obtained and maintained their royal share of the burner business so sub-
stantially begun more than fifty years ago by such men as L. J. Atwood, John C.
Booth, Israel Holmes, and others, who were aided materially in their endeavors
by the best mechanical skill in New England.
One of the greatest of Waterbury's industries is the making of pins of all
kinds. Though the city has won signal honors in the ornamental pin, the hat pin
and the safety pin, she has by no means stopped in her triumphs at the ordinary
brass and iron pin industry. Her pins are used everywhere. Waterbury makes
nearly seventy-five per cent of the world's output.
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
The census figures show that the prevailing hours of labor in the brass and
bronze business were 54 to 60 hours a week in 1910, the condition obtaining
in Waterbury. The average salaries and wages paid here have been shown to
be considerably higher than for the average manufacturing industry. Not until
the relatively unimportant manufactures of the Mountain States and the far West
are reached does a higher wage scale prevail. The higher wages paid in a few
large cities to balance higher living expenses, and the competition of new indus-
tries, like the automobile manufacture, tend to draw mechanics away from Water-
bury, but many of them find conditions outside less to their liking and sooner or
later return. And there is a constant gravitation of ambitious youths here to
participate in the benefits of learning machine and metal trades in one of the
best training schools in the world. Obviously the inflow is greater than the
outflow.
The better organization of manufacturers' employment offices has been a
development of the last few years, and particularly of the busy war period. The
opening in 1917 of a manufacturers' employment bureau with offices in Apothe-
caries' Hall Building- is a still further refinement of the old haphazard methods
of "hiring and firing," and is expected to reduce the waste involved in the frequent
turn-over of labor.
The State Free Employment Bureau has been in operation sixteen years.
During the greater part of that period, the Waterbury office has been extending
188 WATERBURY AXD. THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
its usefulness, which extends only in part to securing employment in factories.
In 191 5 situations were secured for 1,568 people; in 1916 work was found for
1,409. Of these 910 were females, 652 males, in 191 5, and in 1916, 842 were
females and 567 were males.
*
SEX OF WAGE EARNERS
In manufacturing industries requiring physical strength and a high degree of
skill males are the largest proportion of workers, while the proportion of women
and children is largest in the industries requiring dexterity rather than strength.
There is enough of the lighter forms of employment in Waterbury factories to
furnish suitable employment for thousands of women. For all manufacturing
industries in the United States in 1910 the proportion of workers was as follows:
Males of 16 years or over, 78 per cent; females 16 years or over, 19.5 per cent;
children under 16, 2.5 per cent.
For Waterbury's 20,170 workers the proportions were: Males, 15,088, or
74.8 per cent ; females, 4,648, or 23 per cent ; children, 434, or 2.2 per cent. The
proportion of females was slightly larger and the proportion of children slightly
lower than the general manufacturing average. This has been the general condi-
tion for many years and still obtained in 1914.
The employment of women in the munition trade in Waterbury has grown
during the past three years until now it is estimated at as high as 35 or 40 per
cent in some establishments.
In 1914-15, in addition to the regular munition factories in the state, others
which had been working in metal products turned to the manufacture of firearms,
ammunition and parts thereof. Apparently scores sprung up over night to enter
an industry which seemed to offer the most abundant and quick returns. The
swift and nimble fingers and adaptability of women caused them to be employed
in great numbers. The high wages offered and the general search for labor led to
the diversion of young women from other occupations, particularly domestic
service. In much of the work, no special qualifications beyond skill in manipula-
tion was required, the skilled men being placed where tools were made and the
more delicate mechanism was constructed, the unskilled filling the benches. Hun-
dreds of foreign born women who had never been employed in any such labor
were soon made passably efficient through instruction. Many other industries
lost their workers. It was difficult to obtain women to do work which a few
months before they were clamoring to obtain.
The State Bureau of Labor in its report for 1916 says of this development :
"A visit to the various munition factories shows the responsible positions are
filled by women who have been there some time, by newcomers who have superior
intelligence, and by those who are being constantly promoted from the lower
grades of the work. An unceasing vigilance is exercised over the choice of the
proper sort of workers for the task upon which they are to be engaged, as the
least mistake in this way would be productive of far-reaching disaster. In the
less unskilled and almost perfunctory routine work there are fully fifty-seven
varieties of foreigners, nationalities that are not found to any great extent in
other industries being represented here: Russniak (Ruthenian), Bohemian,
Moravian, Albanian, Finnish, Magyar, Slovak, Bulgarian, Servian, Spanish,
Montenegrin, Croatian and Slavonian. The Lithuanians and Roumanians have
been present in large numbers for some time."
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 189
I 1 1 I \Y< IB K M EN 'S COMPENSATION LAW
On October i, 1913, the compensation commissioners of the state assumed
office and put into operation the new workmen's compensation law. The board
now comprises: Frederic M. Williams, Fifth District (Waterbury), chairman;
George li. Chandler, First District; James J. Donahue, Second District; George
E. Beers, Third District ; Edward T. Buckingham, Fourth District.
According to the law certain legal compensation is due an injured workman
for all loss of time after ten days from date of accident, and for the loss of the
use of certain parts of the body, as eye, finger, arm or leg.
Accidents which keep an employe from work for one day or more are reported
to the compensation commissioner for the district. If the accident is so serious
that the waiting period of ten days elapses, the employe is entitled to compensation
under the state law, provided the injury has not been due to serious negligence
or wilful misconduct. Except in cases of this latter sort, an agreement may
then be entered into between the company and the employe, according to pro-
visions of the law, without any formal claim being put in. The agreement must
be filed with the commissioner. In the failure of such an agreement, the matter
is taken up with the commissioner sitting as a court. Sympathy, patience and
common sense are requisites in settling satisfactorily the questions that arise
out of these compensation cases, and in the larger factories of Waterbury the
force in charge of this service is selected and carefully trained.
The following figures for the entire state summarize the work of the com-
mission from its inception to January 1, 1917:
1914 1915 1916
Accidents reported 18,054 37,070 4 f) >935
Voluntary agreements 3-444 7A4-8 9>75 D
Cost to self insurers :
For compensation $ 49,685.58 $101,812.10 $ 202,483.48
For medical service 36,866.15 67,899.57 177,328.24
Cost to insurance companies for compen-
sation and medical service 396,684.30 605,455.66 939,620.63
Total for compensation and medical
service $483,236.03 $775,167.33 $1,319,432.35
The number of voluntary agreements is growing yearly. In most cases this
-'Vilifies that the terms of the act were amicably complied with by the parties
without delay. Such settlements are usually effected through an "adjuster" or
claim agent. In the case of self-insurers this is some official of the company or
iv>ponsible employe, and in the case of insurance companies some young attorney
o.r other competent person who has worked into the post from a clerical position.
If the accident occurs in the plant of a self-insurer it is promptly made known
through the first aid department, and when the waiting period has elapsed an
agreement on the form provided by the commissioners is put before the employe
for execution. If the injured employe is working in the plant of an insured
employer, the insurer is notified of the injury on the form provided by the
insurer. If the injury is one promising to call for weekly compensation, the
adjuster makes due investigation and, if the claim is found valid, it is settled in
like manner. In most cases settlement is effected without delay or misunder-
>tanding. Sometimes the employe questions the accuracy of the computation of
average weekly earnings and asks to have it verified. In other instances the
190 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
employe delays until he can consult some friend. Not infrequently he or his
friend consults the commissioner before signing the agreement. As soon as the
agreement is executed, it is forwarded to the commissioner for his approval, as it
does not become effective until so approved and duly filed with the clerk of the
Superior Court for the county.
FACTORY CONSTRUCTION FROM JANUARY, I9OO, TO NOVEMBER 3O, 1916
The following record of factory construction in Waterbury is from the
records compiled annually since 1900 by the State Bureau of Labor. The record
is here classified by concerns, the names of which are given as they existed in
the years in which the buildings were constructed. Thus much of the great
building work done by the American Brass Company appears largely under the
names of its branches. A few of the corporations and firms have changed names
and personnel, but the record of construction remains as the best evidence of
success and of progress.
INTERNATIONAL SILVER COMPANY FACTORY J
Total
1907- 8 — 2 buildings $4,250
1909-10 — 2 buildings 2 ,S°° $6,75°
PLUME & ATWOOD MANUFACTURING COMPANY
1907- 8 — i building $16,700
191 1-12 — 2 buildings 21,000
1913-14 — 2 buildings 3, 700
1915-16 — 1 building 30,000 $71,400
SHOE HARDWARE COMPANY
1900 — I building $25,000
1907- 8 — 2 buildings 26,500
1909-TO — 1 building 8,000
i<;ii-I2 — 2 buildings 55,000 $114,500
WATERBURY CASTINGS COMPANY
1 <)07- 8 — 3 buildings $23,000
1915-16 — 1 building 3,ooo $26,000
B. H. FRY & CO.
1904 — 1 building . . $2,000
F. H. KALBFLEISCH & CO.
1904 -i building $15,000
1 005 — 1 building 2,000
1907- 8 — 1 building 5,000
1909-10 — 2 buildings 5,5°°
1913-14 — 1 building 7,S°°
1915-16 — 1 building 9,500 $44,500
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 191
MANUFACTURERS FOUNDRY COMPANY
1904 — 2 buildings $19,500
1906 — 2 buildings 5,ooo
1907- 8 — 4 buildings 26,000
1909-10--1 building 7,S°°
191 1-12 — 1 building 500
1913-14 — 4 buildings 13,000
1915-16 — 1 building 3,000 $74,500
E. J. MANVILLE MACHINE COMPANY
1904 — 5 buildings $62,000
KJ09-10 — 3 buildings 2,500
1913-14 — 1 building 20,000 $84,500
ROWBOTTOM MACHINE COMPANY
1904 — i building $4,500
1906 — 2 buildings 4,200
1911-12 — 1 building 1,500
191 5-16 — 1 building 16,000 $26,200
AMERICAN PIN COMPANY
1901 — i building $25,000
1902 — 1 building 27,000
1903 — 1 building 15,000
1904 — I building 12,000
I 9°5 — l building 21,000
1906 — 2 buildings 62,000
1908 — 1 building 5,000
1909-10 — 2 buildings 1,000
1913-14— 4 buildings 76,500
[915-16 — 1 building 27,000 $271,500
BERBECKER & ROWLAND MFG. COMPANY
1901 — I building $10,000
[905 — 2 buildings 7,000
1907- 8 — 2 buildings 8,500
1909-10 — 2 buildings 18,000
1911-12 — 4 buildings 11,300
1913-14 — 2 buildings 15,000 $69,800
WATERBURY FARREL FOUNDRY & MACHINE COMPANY
190 1 — 1 building $50,000
1902 — 1 building 70,000
1904 — 1 building 8,000
1905 —2 buildings 38.500
192 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
1906 — 2 buildings 20,000
1907- 8 — 1 building 16,000
191 1-12 — 1 building 10,000
1913-14 — 1 building 22,000
1915-16— 3 buildings 105,000 $339,500
WATERBURY BATTERY COMPANY
1904 — i building $5, 500
1909-10 — 1 building 12,500
191 3-14 — 1 building 2,600 $20,600
WATERBURY BRASS COMPANY
J 9°3 — 3 buildings $90,000
1904 — 1 building 75,o°°
1905 — 2 buildings 16,800
1907- 8 — 8 buildings 121,500
1909-10 — 3 buildings 5,oco
191 1-12 — 5 buildings 77,000
1913-14 — 2 buildings 4,500
1915-16 — -14 buildings 200,000 $589,800
WATERBURY CUTLERY COMPANY
I 9°3 — : building $1,000
WATERBURY MACHINE COMPANY
I 9°3 — 2 buildings $7,000
1907- 8 — 2 buildings 7,000
1909-10 — 1 building 15,000 $29,000
AMERICAN MILLS COMPANY
1904 — I building $4,000
1907- 8 — 1 building 500
1909-1O' — 2 buildings 47, 500 $52,000
WATERBURY CLOCK COMPANY
1900 — 3 buildings $41,000
1903 — 1 building 5,820
1904 — 5 buildings 87,500
1906 —2 buildings 4,000
1907- 8 — 1 building 35>o°o
1913-14 — 1 building 55,ooo
191 5- 16 — 1 building 14,000 $242,320
WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 193
WATERBURY MFG. CO.
1900 — 2 buildings $3,000
1904 — 1 building 55,ooo
] 9°5 — J building 7,000
1909-10 — 4 buildings 104,000
1915-16 — 7 buildings 393,000 $562,000
BENEDICT & BURNHAM MFG. CO.
1900 — I building $15,000
1902 — 4 buildings 40,000
1904 — 1 building 10,000
1905 — 1 building 2,500
1907- 8 — 1 building 10,000
191 1-12 — 1 building 70,000
1913-14 — 1 building 65,000
1915-16— 21 buildings ■ 5 2 5>°o° $737>50o
O'NEIL & WARNER
1900 — 2 buildings $2,000
PLATT BROTHERS & COMPANY
1900 — i building $1,000
I 9°3 — l building 2 5,ooo
1907- 8 — 1 building 1,600 $27,600
STEELE & JOHNSON MFG. COMPANY
1900 — 2 buildings $5,ooo
1907- 8 — 3 buildings 20,200
1909-10 — 1 building 25,000
191 1-12 — 2 buildings 16,500 $66,700
CHASE ROLLING MILL COMPANY
1902 — 2 buildings $42,000
I 9°3 — l building 3,000
1906 — 3 buildings 5, 200
1907- 8 — 9 buildings 46,500
1909-10 — 6 buildings 46,500
1913-14 — 2 buildings 4,500
1915-16 — 21 buildings 750,000 $897,700
WATERVILLE CORPORATION ( CHASE METAL WORKS)
1911-12 — 2 buildings $73,500
1913-T4 — 8 buildings 149,000 $222,500
Vol. 1—13
194 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
NEW ENGLAND WATCH COMPANY
1902 — 3 buildings $8,000
SCOVILL MFG. COMPANY
1901 — 5 buildings $ 128,000
1904 — 1 building 27,000
1905 — 5 buildings 1 19,200
1906 — I building 2,000
1907- 8 — 6 buildings 48,000
1909-10 — 13 buildings 103,550
191 1-12 — 1 building 2,500
191 3-14 — 7 buildings 69,000
1915-16 — 24 buildings 1,025,000 $1,544,250
A. H. WELLS & COMPANY
1904 — I building $8,000
1907- 8 — 2 buildings 7,5°°
1909-10 — 1 building 9,000
1911-12 — 2 buildings 1 1,500
1913-14 — 1 building 1,700
1915-16 — 2 buildings 35,ooo $72,700
THE BRISTOL COMPANY
1905 — I building $10,000
1907- 8 — 1 building 30,000
1909-10 — 1 building 18,500
191 1-12 — 2 buildings 5,300
1913-14 — 1 building 31,000
191 5-16 — 1 building : 50,000 $144,800
HOLMES, BOOTH & HAYDENS COMPANY
x 9°5 — l building $6,000
MATTATUCK MFG. COMPANY
IQ0 5 — I building $ 500
1907- 8 — 2 buildings 7,75°
1909-10 — 4 buildings 2,500
1911-12 — 1 building 1,500
1913-14— I building 2,500 $14,750
RANDOLPH & CLOWES COMPANY
1905 — i building $4,500
1906 — 2 buildings 7,7O0
1907- 8 — 2 buildings 20,000
1909-10 — 1 building 2,000 $34,200
WAXKKliKRY AND XI IK XAl'CAXUCK VALLEY 195
J. E. SMITH & CO.
I 9°5 — : building $20,000
WATKRIU'RV BUTTON COMPANY
1 9°5 — 2 buildings $15,500
1906 — 1 building 3,ooo
1909-10 — 1 building 18,000
1915-16 — I building 60,000 $96,500
WATERBURY CRUCIBLE COMPANY
1905 — I building $6,000
WATERBURY PAPER BOX MFG. COMPANY
1905 — I building $28,000
1913-14 — 1 building 10,500 $38,500
HEMINWAY & BARLETT SILK COMPANY
M. HEMINWAY & SONS SILK COMPANY
I 9°5 — 2 buildings $7,000
191 1-12 — 2 buildings 8,500
1 91 3- 14 — 4 buildings 74,ooo
191 5-16 — 1 building 5,000 $94,500
THE OAKVILLE COMPANY
1905 — 2 buildings $20,200
1907- 8 — 2 buildings 40,000
1909-10 — 1 building 50,000
191 1-12 — 2 buildings 4,S°° % l i-4>70°
AMERICAN RING COMPANY
1906 — I building $17,500
1909-10 — 1 building 750 $18,250
FRENCH MFG. COMPANY
1906 — 2 buildings $5,ooo
1907- 8 — 1 building 800
1909-10 — 1 building 6,000
1911-12 — 2 buildings 8,500
1913-14 — 2 buildings 31,000 $51,300
THOMAS F. JACKSON
1906 — i building $15,000
196 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
ROGERS & BROS.
1906 — i building $4,000
SMITH & GRIGGS COMPANY
1906 — 2 buildings $10,000
WATERBURY MACHINE COMPANY
1907- 8 — 2 buildings $7,000
1909-10 — 1 building 15,000 $22,000
WATERBURY ROLLING MILLS COMPANY
1907- 8 — 4 buildings $20,000
1909-10 — 3 buildings 22,500
1915-16 — 2 buildings 20,000 $62,500
BAIRD MACHINE COMPANY
1907- 8 — 1 building $4,500
AMERICAN FASTENER COMPANY
1915-16— I building $8,500
EASTERN BRASS & INGOT COMPANY
1915-16 — I building $60,000
PILLING BRASS COMPANY
1913-14 — I building $7,000
1915-16— 1 building 7,957 $14,957
WATERBURY BRASS GOODS CORPORATION
1909- to — 3 buildings $5, 500
191 1-12 — 2 buildings 12,500 $18,000
GEORGE HARTLEY
1915-16 — i building $2,000
NOERA MFG. COMPANY
T9T1-T2 — 1 building $2,500
1915-16 — 1 building 4,000 $6,500
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 197
STANDARD ENGINEERING COMPANY
1915-16 — i building $7,500
WATERBURY BRASS & BRONZE COMPANY
1915-16 — I building $10,000
WATERBURY TOOL COMPANY
1915-16 — i building $56,000
METAL SPECIALTY MFG. COMPANY
191 5-16 — 1 building $25,000
NATIONAL COMPANY
1913-14 — 1 building $8,500
1915-16 — 2 buildings 30,000 $38,500
ANDREW C. CAMPBELL, INC.
1913-14 — 1 building $16,000
1915-16 — 1 building 8,000 $24,003
BLAKE & JOHNSON COMPANY
1909-10 — 2 buildings $150,000
1913-14 — 1 building 4,500
1915-16 — 1 building 5,ooo $159,500
AMERICAN BRASS COMPANY
1913-14— 5 buildings $i55.o°o
GENERAL MFG. COMPANY
191 1-12 — 1 building $ 750
1913-14 — I building 8,000 $8,750
WATERBURY BUCKLE COMPANY
1913-14 — 1 building $28,000
WEBSTER & BRIGGMAN
191 3-14 — i building $5,ooo
198 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
JAMES F. GAFFNEY
1909-10 — I building $8,000
MATTHEWS & WILLARD MFG. COMPANY
1909-10 — i building $500
GEORGE PANNETON
1909-10 — i building $10,000
G. G. RIGGS
1909-10 — 1 building $13,500
WATERBURY LUMBER & COAL COMPANY
1909 — 1 building $15,000
ROBERT WILMOT
1911-12 — 1 building $1,500
WATERBURY FOUNDRY COMPANY
1911-12 — 1 building $700
WATERBURY WELDING COMPANY
1911-12 — i building $800
CHAPTER XVI
THE LARGER BRASS COMPANIES
THE CHARTER OF 1893 NEW CONSOLIDATION PERFECTED ITS FIRST BOARD OF
DIRECTORS CHANGES TO AN OPERATING COMPANY PURCHASES THE BUFFALO
PLANT ITS BUILDINGS IN WATERBURY, TORRINGTON, ANSONIA, KENOSHA AND
BUFFALO NEW CONSTRUCTION EARNINGS OF THE COMPANY ITS BALANCE
SHEET FOR 1916 THE EMPLOYMENT BUREAU ITS HOUSING PLANS TESTI-
MONIAL TO ITS PRESIDENT, CHARLES F. BROOKER SKETCH OF HIS CAREER THE
SCOVILL COMPANY ITS PHYSICAL GROWTH ITS NEW BUILDINGS ENORMOUS
EARNINGS OFFICERS OF THE PAST QUARTER CENTURY EMPLOYMENT BUREAU
ITS HOSPITALS.
After 1870 the organization of existing corporations in the brass industry into
one or possibly two combinations was a source of constant and most careful con-
sideration. Pools to regulate and apportion production were formed from time
to time but broke up regularly. So in 1891 and in 1892 the heads of several of
the largest concerns doing business in the Naugatuck Valley met and discussed
values, economies, and finally agreed upon a tentative plan of combining interests.
On Tune 7, 1893, a special charter was obtained for a combination of the Coe
Brass Manufacturing Company, of Torrington, the Scovill Manufacturing Com-
pany, the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, the Waterbury Brass
Company, Holmes, Booth & Haydens and the Plume & Atwood Manufacturing
Company. This included, therefore, all of the Waterbury rolling mills except
Randolph & Clowes, and excluded in Ansonia the Ansonia Brass & Copper Com-
pany. The steps in this proposed consolidation were by no means harmonious
and the Scovill Manufacturing Co. elected to preserve its identity.
It was not until December 14, 1899, that the American Brass Company was
formed by the Coe Brass Company, the Waterbury Brass Company, and the An-
sonia Brass & Copper Company. This had been preceded in 1896 by the transfer
of the Wallace plant in Ansonia to the Coe Brass Company. It will be seen that
the earlier tentative combination had been given up, the differences in views and
to some extent in physical interests, being practically irreconcilable.
Its first officers were: Charles F. Brooker, president; A. A. Cowles, first vice-
president; James S. Elton, second vice president; John P. Elton, secretary and
treasurer. Its capital was $10,000,000.
The first board of directors was as follows: Charles F. Brooker, Ansonia;
Alfred A. Cowles, New York; James S. Elton, Waterbury; D. Willis James, New
York; Chandler X. Wayland, New York; Elisha Turner, Torrington; William
E. Dodge. New York ; James A. Doughty, Torrington; John P. Elton, Waterbury.
In 1901 the stockholders of the Holmes Booth & Haydens Company changed
their holdings at 25 per cent premium for stock of the American Brass Company,
the American Brass Company thus becoming the owner of the Holmes Booth &
Haydens Company.
199
200 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
On November i, 1905, the entire property of the Holmes Booth & Hay dens
Company of whatever nature was sold to the Benedict & Burnham Mfg. Company
for 10,000 shares, par value $25 each of Benedict & Burnham Mfg. Company
stock at a ratio of five to one, or $1,250,000. The Holmes Booth & Haydens office
was then given up.
In 1904 the officers of the Holmes Booth & Haydens Company were: T. B.
Kent, president and treasurer; E. L. Frisbie, Jr., vice president; A. M. Dickinson,
assistant treasurer; G. H. Benham, secretary.
The officers of the Benedict & Burnham Mfg. Company at the time of the
consolidation were : President and treasurer, Edward L. Frisbie, Jr. ; assistant
treasurer, G. W. Burnham; secretary, A. M. Dickinson.
The officers of the Waterbury Brass Co. at the time of the consolidation were :
President, James S. Elton; vice president, Charles F. Brooker; treasurer, John
P. Elton; secretary, G. C. Hill.
In 1909 Wm. G. Lathrop in his valuable book, "The Brass Industry," said of
the new company: "The American Brass Company is today the largest and most
important brass making and handling company in the world. It makes more than
two-thirds of all the brass used in the United States, besides which it handles
much copper and various alloys, such as German silver and many mixtures, the
composition of which is regarded as a trade secret. It uses approximately one-
third of all the copper consumed in the United States, and is the largest single
user of copper in the world. About one-half of its output proceeds from Ansonia,
one-third from Waterbury, and the remainder from Torrington. With the excep-
tion of a few specialties which it controls by patent or otherwise, it has abandoned
manufacturing. The tendency is towards specialization of output, each plant
being used more largely for such product as it can most advantageously produce."
On January 1, 1912, the American Brass Company became an operating com-
pany, instead of a holding company. Its subsidiaries of the period, the Ansonia
Brass & Copper Company, the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Co., and the
Waterbury Brass Company, became branches known by the name of the old cor-
poration. Each branch from this time on had its own accounts, but checks were
drawn to and by the American Brass Company. Besides the corporations that
were thus extinguished, the American Brass Company controlled the Chicago
Brass Company, of Kenosha, Wis., the Waterbury Brass Goods Corporation, and
the Ansonia Land & Water Power Company. Under the new order of things,
these became the property of the American Brass Company through stock
ownership.
The new company was now the strongest single factor in the brass industry in
America and further strengthened itself by the purchase of the Chicago Brass
Company.
This left the following big firms in this vicinity outside the combination :
The Chase Rolling Mill (then being organized), the Scovill Manufacturing Com-
pany, the Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company, the Randolph & Clowes
Company, the Bridgeport Brass Company, the Bristol Company and the Seymour
Manufacturing Company.
The company had first been capitalized at $10,000,000, but this was twice
increased before January 1, 191 2, by $2,500,000, so that the capitalization at that
time was $15,000,000.
Under the new arrangement the officers remained as follows : President,
Charles F. Brooker; vice presidents, Edward L. Frisbie, Jr., A. A. Cowles, James
S. Elton ; treasurer, John P. Elton ; secretary, Gordon W. Burnham. The other
directors were : Thomas B. Kent, J. E. Wayland, E. Holbrook, Arthur C. James,
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 201
John J. Sinclair, Cleveland H. Lodge, James A. Doughty, Adelbert P. lline, T.
Brownell Burnham.
In June, 1917, announcement was made by William A. Morgan, president and
general manager of the Buffalo Copper and Brass Rolling Mills, of Buffalo, N. Y.,
of the sale of the company's properties to the American Brass Company. At a
meeting held July 6, 1917, this sale was officially ratified. The price paid was
several millions. The plant is one of the largest in the country, employing over
five thousand men.
In 1912 the general equipments of the company, which have been so vastly
extended in the past three years, were about as follows:
In Ansonia: Casting shop, rolling mill, copper rolling mill, rod mill, bar and
bolt mill, copper mill, wire rod mill, refining mill, coarse wire mill, cable screw
building, wire-covering mill.
The Benedict & Burnham plant had a casting shop, tube-casting shop, sheet
metal mill, brass wire mill, brass rod mill, seamless tube mill, brazed tube mill,
rule mill, blanking mill, copper wire mill, copper rod mill, insulated wire mill,
fastener building.
At the Chicago Brass Company in Kenosha it had a casting shop, sheet metal
mill, seamless tube mill, brazed tube mill, press room.
At the Coe Brass Mfg. Company, Torrington, it had a casting shop, sheet metal
mill, brass wire mill, brass rod mill, seamless tube mill, brazed tube mill, press
room.
At the Coe plant in Ansonia it had a casting plant, sheet metal mill, drawn
copper mill. East rod mill, West rod mill, coarse wire mill, fine wire mill, rivet
and bur extension plant, Rockwell furnace plant, diamond die building and
machine shop.
At the Waterbury Brass Company plant there were a casting shop, sheet brass
mill, brass wire mill, brass rod mill, manufacturing department and two additional
structures.
In all there were seventy mills.
At Torrington among the new structures built since 1914 are a rod mill, metal
storage building and a power plant.
At the Waterbury Brass Branch a machine shop, in addition to the wire mill,
a power plant, an addition to the casting shop, an addition to the rolling mill and
a metal storage building have been put up since 19 14.
At the Benedict & Burnham branch construction since 1914 was as follows :
Seamless tube mill, manufacturing packing and shipping building, carpenter shop,
an addition to the rolling mill.
In addition a general office building and a general machine shop have been
built in Waterbury.
At Ansonia, the construction since 1914 was as follows: A forging shop, an
addition to the extrusion department, an addition to the wire mill, a shipping and
manufacturing building, a casting shop. The old rolling mill was rebuilt and an
addition to the metal storage building, and power plant, were put up at Ansonia.
In Kenosha, Wis., the company built an office building, a casting shop, a metal
storage building, a lumber storage building, an addition to the power plant and
addition to nearly all the other mills.
Some conception may be obtained of the amount invested in new buildings
and plants in recent years from the figures of the annual reports. In 1910 and
hut. the company deducted $500,000 for depreciation for each of these years.
In 19 10 the value of the real estate, machinery, buildings, and actual physical
holdings, outside of merchandise, amounted to $9,203,298. In 191 1 , with the large
depreciation against it, this value was placed at $9,057,723.
202
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
In 1912, with the usual charge for depreciation, the physical properties were
valued at $11,322,162. The figures given in the annual report supplement this
figure with the following: "Expended for permanent improvements, $760,926;
less charged off for depreciation, total $11,533,088."
In 1914 the real estate, machinery, etc., had grown in value to $12,858,197.
In 191 5 this was placed at $13,545,669, and in 1916 at $13,640,869. Allowing
for the heavy depreciation it will be noted that extensions and betterments each
year for the past five years have gone well over a million annually.
In 1917 the Buffalo plant was added, and this will, of course, appear in added
valuation in the next annual report.
In the matter of earnings, the annual reports as printed in the Financial and
Commercial Chronicle are enlightening on the progressiveness of the men back
of this great industry.
In 1910 the earnings were $1,887,006; in 1911 these were $1,445,543; in 1912,
they were $2,274,338; in 1913, they were $1,917,605; in 1914, $1,450,347; in
1915, $6,128,453; in 1916, $10,991,670. The dividends paid were in 1910, $1,069,-
860, 7 per cent; in 1911, $932,000, 6 per cent; in 1912, $1,050,000, 7 per cent;
in t 9 1 3 , $1,050,000, 7 per cent; in 1914, $900,000, 6 per cent; in 1915, $1,950,000,
13 per cent; and in 1916, $3,750,000, 25 per cent. On Jan. 25, 1917, the American
Brass Company declared an extra dividend of 11 per cent and the usual quarterly
payment of 1^2 per cent on its stock. Similar dividends were declared quarterly
until October, when the total dividend was reduced to 6 per cent quarterly to
conserve the company's cash in view of the heavy war taxes impending.
The balance sheet for 1914, 1915 and 1916 follows:
ASSETS
1914
Real Estate, Machinery, etc $12,858,197
Cash 2,017,501
Bills and Accts. Rec 3,336,518
Woodlands 138,81 1
Stocks and Bonds Owned 1,644,250
Patents 1 ,000
Merchandise 6,624,905
$26,621,182
1915
$i3,545,o69
2,662,776
6,126,557
l 57,7 11
1,311,116
1,000
7,987,052
1916
$13,640,867
6,213,914
9,423,610
184,638
L343-0 21
1,000
10,118,515
$31,791,281 $40,925,568
LIABILITIES
1914 I915 I916
Capital Stock $15,000,000 $15,000,000 $15,000,000
Current Accounts Payable 2,021,631 2,013,276 : ,9°5,893
Reserved for Contingencies 1,000,000 2,000,000 4,000,000
Surplus 7,149,204 6,649,551 9,028,005
Net Earnings for Year 1,450,347 6,128,454 10,991,670
$26,621,182 $31,791,281 $40,925,568
The Iron Age, in commenting on the report for 191 5, said: "The net divisible
profits for 191 5 represent an increase of 322 per cent over 1914. The best pre-
vious year was 191 2, when the profits amounted to $2,274,738."
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 203
The American Brass Company has not confined its work to mere money mak-
ing. Its "housing" work is fully covered in the chapter on that subject.
On June 20, 1914, Miss Xina Keir. a "welfare secretary," was added to the staff
of the American Brass Company. This official was placed in charge of the com-
pany's emergency or first aid hospital located at 721 Hank Street, the former
Holmes, Booth & llaydens plant. At this hospital there are four nurses and
attendants. Miss Keir also has charge of similar hospitals at the company's
Torrington and Ansonia plants.
The hospitals are solely for emergency work and are not in any way designed
to take the place of physicians.
At these hospitals one of the most important duties is the care of cases of
"spelter shake" or "brass founder's ague." This is caused by the inhalation of
metal fumes, and as a rule attacks a newcomer in the mills after the first few days
of work. It has all the symptoms of ague and cramps. It is never fatal, and is
temporarily cured by the use of Jamaica ginger. The effort of the company, how-
ever, is now entirely devoted to prevention of the disease by improvements in
metal working methods. In 1913 the Connecticut Legislature passed an act com-
pelling physicians to report immediately attacks of all kinds of occupational dis-
eases, including this.
In December, 191 3. the new office building of the American Brass Company,
opposite the Union Station, was opened. The main entrance has a handsome set
of brass and glass doors, the brass being an exemplary work of the artistic side of
brass manufacture. A marble stairway leads to the long entresol or lobby, which
extends nearly the full length of the building. The executive offices and private
offices of the company officials are on the first floor. The general offices and tele-
phone exchange are en the second floor. The exchange connects 1,600 telephones
in the various plants of the company throughout the state, and is one of the
largest private exchanges in Connecticut.
There are five drafting rooms, a library, and eighteen office rooms for
employes on the third floor. The basement contains a garage, a large storage
room, and an excellent heating plant.
At the annual meeting of the American Brass Company Feb. 6, 1917, the resig-
nation of George E. Cole, as assistant treasurer and auditor was reluctantly
accepted. He had been with the Coe Company at Torrington and with the Ameri-
can Brass Company for twenty-five years.
At this meeting in February, 191 7, the following vice presidents were placed
in charge of the various companies : F. L. Bramer, Coe Brass branch, Torrington ;
H. M. Steele, Waterbury Brass branch ; A. M. Dickinson, Benedict & Burnham
branch; Wm. A. Cowles, Ansonia branches; Arthur S. Brown, Ansonia branches;
George H. Allen, Kenosha (Wis.) branch; F. M. Wills, Buffalo branch.
The officers of the company are as follows: President, Charles F. Brooker;
vice presidents, Edward L. Frisbie, John P. Elton, Thomas B. Kent and John A.
Coe, Jr. ; treasurer, John P. Elton ; assistant treasurer, C. F. Hollister ; secretary,
Gordon \V. Burnham; assistant secretary, Franklin E. Weaver.
The present directors of the American Brass Company are: Charles F.
Brooker, Ansonia; Edward L. Frisbie, James S. Elton, John P. Elton, John A.
Coe, Jr., all of Waterbury ; Arthur C. James, Gordon W. Burnham, Edward
Holbrook, Cleveland H. Dodge, Thomas B. Kent, John E. Wayland, all of New
York; James A. Doughty, of Torrington; T. Brownell Burnham of Sussex,
England.
In its dealings with its 15,000 employes, the American Brass Company has
been exceptionally fortunate. During these crucial years it has had but one
204 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
serious interference with business. This was on Feb. 17, 191 6, when the Ansonia
employes struck. On Feb. 20 the strike was settled at a slight increase over the
original offer of the company. It increased wages 15 per cent, allowed time and
a half for overtime, and a half holiday Saturday with full pay.
On Sept. 10, 1915, there was also a voluntary increase by the company of 10
per cent in wages.
In April, 19 14, the Copper Producers' Association of America celebrated by
a banquet at Sherry's in New York the fiftieth anniversary of Charles F.
Brooker's connection with the brass business of this country. Tbe leading men
in the industry were present at this testimonial and the tributes that were paid
this pioneer of the brass industry were many and deserved.
Charles Frederick Brooker, the president of the American Brass Company,
was born March 4, 1847, in Litchfield, Conn. His family has its American origin
in Guilford, where John Brooker, an Englishman, located in 1695. Two gen-
erations later Abraham Brooker, Jr., his father, removed to Wolcottville, now
Torrington.
At the age of seventeen he became bookkeeper for the Coe Brass Company,
of Torrington, becoming secretary in 1870. On the death of Lyman W. Coe, his
uncle, in 1893, Mr. Brooker succeeded him as president of the Coe Brass Company
of Torrington.
When the American Brass Company was formed, he was elected its first presi-
dent. Both in Torrington and Ansonia he held many important positions on the
directorates of many banking, water, and manufacturing companies. He was for
years a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Company. In New
York City he is a member of the Union League Club, the New England Society
of New York, the New York Chamber of Commerce, the New York Yacht Club,
the Engineer's Club, the Lawyers' Club and the Transportation Club.
He was a member of the Connecticut Assembly in 1875 and of the State
Senate, in 1893. He was a member of the Republican State Central Committee
for years, also a member of the National Republican Committee.
Mr. Brooker, since his marriage to Mrs. Julia E. Clark Farrell in London
some years ago, has made his residence in Ansonia.
In 191 1 the Government proceeded against the individual directors, who had
formed what was termed the copper wire pool. This had been dissolved several
years before, in fact as soon as it was found that it was in contravention of the
Sherman anti-trust law.
Pleas of nolo contendere were entered and a fine of $1,100 was assessed
against each of the offending directors Aug. 4, 191 1.
THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury is today the largest single
brass-making and brass-fabricating plant in the United States, and if not the
largest in the world at least well at the top in that class. It employed in Decem-
ber, 1917, between 13,000 and 14,000 hands. Its employment record speaks elo-
quently of its remarkable growth:
Years Number of Employes
1850 190
i860 193
1870 538
1880 399
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 205
Years Number of Employes
[890 1,200
1900 2,000
1910 4,000
i9 J 4 7-500
I9 1 / I3-50O
As -a corporation it began business in 1850 with a plant which had 80 horse-
power. This in 1893 had grown to 1,400 horsepower, and in 1902 to 2,250.
Today one new power house, that constructed in 19 16, the first of several pro-
posed units, has a capacity of 8,000 kilowatts. Its water, steam and electric power
is so enormous today that it literally drives miles of machinery.
In 1902 when it celebrated the 100th anniversary of its existence as a going
business — it was not incorporated as the Scovill Manufacturing Company until
1850 — its plant, then already great, was confined aside from its North Elm and
Maple Street buildings well within the area bounded by Baldwin, Mill, East
Main, Hamilton Avenue and Bridge streets. Within these limits it actually util-
ized less than half the ground, the earliest constructed buildings being those along
the Mad River. Today it extends from the junction of Mill and East Main streets
to the point where the Mad River strikes Silver Street, a length of over 4,800 feet.
Over this stretch of nearly a mile and in the territory lying between Bridge Street
and Hamilton Avenue and East Main Street it has erected more than three hun-
dred buildings, including its extensions and its rebuilt structures.
Erom 1850 to 1902, a period of fifty-two years, the Scovill Manufacturing
Company paid cash dividends amounting to $3,613,986.15, and in stock dividends,
$1,980,281.25, a total of $5,594,267.40, for this period of over half a century.
In 1916 with a capitalization of $5,000,000, the Scovill Manufacturing Com-
pany paid dividends amounting to $11 1 a share, the total payments being almost
as great as in its first fifty-two years. Its net earnings for 1916 amounted to
$13,403,462, equal to $268 a share on outstanding stock. Besides accumulating
this extraordinary profit, the company spent out of earnings $3,654,368 for plant
additions and charged off approximately $2,000,000 for depreciation. A special
reserve of $2,200,000 was set up for federal, state and city taxes, and the general
reserve for contingencies and improvements was increased to more than $1,500,-
000. The surplus account from $3,063,845 in 19 14 had been expanded to nearly
$i6,oco.coo in 1916.
A minute history of this company would be a history of the rise and progress
of brass manufacture, the German silver manufacture, the daguerreotype, ambro-
type, and photographic business, the munition making business, and of all the
ramifications of these industries since they began to exist in the United States. A
brief account of this earlier history is essential to ascertain the lines on which the
corporation was established.
The business which afterwards became the Scovill Manufacturing Company
began in 1802 when the firm of Abel Porter & Co., undertook the manufacture of
gilt buttons. The firm was composed of Abel Porter, Daniel Clark, Silas Grilley
and Levi G. Porter, all of Waterbury. In August, 1809, Silas Grilley sold out
to his partners and September 19, 181 1, the whole business passed into the hands
of Dr. Frederick Leavenworth, David Hayden and James M. L. Scovill, and the
firm name became Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill. On April 4, 1827, Leaven-
worth and Hayden sold their interest and William H. Scovill purchased a half
interest in the business for which he paid about ten thousand dollars. The firm
became T. M. L. & W. H. Scovill.
206 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Within the next ten years several subsidiary organizations were established
in which the parent firm became a partner with others. Among these was the
firm of Scovills & Buckingham, consisting of J. M. L. and W. H. Scovill and
John Buckingham, their brother-in-law, which was established in Oakville for
the manufacture of brass butts, snuffer trays, belt ornaments and other small brass
goods; also the firm of W. R. Hitchcock & Co., with W. R. Hitchcock and Joseph
C. Welton as partners, which undertook the manufacture of cloth buttons in a
building on the west side of Union Square. Later Welton sold out and the firm
became a corporation under the same name. About 1850 this business was
removed to a factory on North Main Street, which had been built for the fork
and spoon business, where the Waterbury Manufacturing Company now is
About 1839 came the firm of Scovills & Co., with Scovill M. Buckingham and
Abram Ives as partners, for the prosecution of the gilt button business. The
energies of the parent concern were at this time directed more towards sheet
brass. Abram Ives sold out his interest and withdrew after two or three years.
In 1850 all of these interests except that of W. R. Hitchcock & Co. were con-
solidated into one joint stock company under the name of The Scovill Manufac-
turing Company, with a capital of $200,000, the stock being taken by the Messrs.
Scovill and their partners and a few others who had long been in their employ
or were otherwise connected. In 1852 the capital was increased to $250,000, in
1854 to $300,000, in 1865 to $350,000, in 1882 to $400,000, in 1898 to $1,600,000,
and in 1900 to $2,500,000, in 1904 to $3,250,000, in 1907 to $4,000,000, and in
191 3 to $5,000,000. It still remains at that figure.
In 1 88 1 a special charter was granted to the Company under the same name
by the Legislature.
Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill dated their real beginning of success from
1820, when Mr. James Croft, an Englishman, entered their employ. After
remaining with them one year he was secured by Mr. Benedict and in 1829 he
became one of the partners of the firm of Benedict & Co., then organized. It was
largely due to the advice and encouragement of Mr. Croft that the venture was
continued. Trained in the art of making gilt buttons in Birmingham, England,
he was the first workman of technical skill whose name appears in connection
with the infant industry. His knowledge of the needs of the business here, and
as well of conditions in Birmingham, England, led Mr. Benedict to send him
seven times to England for tools and workmen. It was Mr. Croft who secured
for his employer the machinery which enabled him to compete successfully with
the older firm, Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill.
In 1834 it was the Scovill Company which challenged the exclusive right
of the United States Government to issue coins. During the next seven years
many tokens were issued by them of nearly two hundred different designs. The
most of these were stamped from sheet copper, although a few were alloyed
with tin. These passed as current coin, even after their manufacture ceased.
In 1842 the issue was enjoined by the Government. After 1866 the Scovill
Company furnished the United States mint with blanks for the three cent nickel
and after 1890 with blanks for the one cent bronze and five cent nickel coins.
Many coins, both blanks and fully stamped, have been issued by the Scovills and
by others for many South American states.
The most notable achievement in the history of the country in the line of
medal making was the full set of medals — 23,757 m number — furnished by the
Scovill Manufacturing Company for the Columbian Exposition of 1893. These
were particularly rich and full in design, and special machinery and processes
were devised for their manufacture.
OFFICE OF SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, WATERBURY
PLUME & ATWOOD MANUFACTURING COMPANY. WATER P.URY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 207
In n)02, on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the Scovill
Manufacturing Company, a bronze medal, 3 inches in diameter, was struck to
commemorate the occasion. This had on its face outline portraits of the original
founders of the business, J. M. L. and \Y. Jl. Scovill, and on the obverse side,
the dates 1802-1902 and the commemorative statement. It was classed with the
best medal work that has been turned out in the country.
In 1914, at the outbreak of the war, the Scovill Manufacturing Company
was among the first to tender its services for munition-making. With the plant
splendidly equipped for this work, and land and other resources at hand for
immediate extension, agents for foreign governments were not slow to take
advantage of this offer. The contracts for the making of time fuses were not
alone speedily closed, but all the skill and ingenuity of the best workmen in the
country were applied to the great task. The Scovill Manufacturing Company
made the first and best deliveries and its orders were greatly increased.
Huge orders for shrapnel shell cases were taken. These were shipped to
inspection points where thirty shells out of every 4,000 are tested. Those which
stand the test are then sent to the Bethlehem Steel Works and other similar
plants for final assembling and disposal. There have been but few rejections.
In 1917 Government orders along the same lines were received.
The physical growth of the plant may be roughly divided into three periods.
The first period is that extending to 1900, during which time the total expended
for buildings and machinery amounted to $1,411,865. This expenditure is tabu-
lated as follows by the company:
1865 to 1870 $134,446
1870 to 1875 80,479
1875 to 1880 3 6 ,37 8
1880 to 1885 351,658
1885 to 1890 181,927
1890 to 1895 239,283
1895 to 1900 387,694
Since 1902 the greater part of the plant has been constructed, but the third
period beginning with 19 14 has been by far the most extensive in construction, both
in extensions and new buildings. The expenditures for additions to land, build-
ings and machinery in the war period have been as follows :
1914 $ 403.5 2 476
1915 2,336,244.66
1916 3,654.3 8 577
1917 to May 1st 1,158,754.36
Total $7-552.909-55
The following record of buildings erected since 1902 gives a fair conception
of the rapidity of the plant's growth :
Four-story manufacturing building back of East Main Street with a one-story
addition, frontage of 200 feet. Brick construction. Period prior to 1910.
One-story brick rolling mill building approximately 100 by 75 feet, centrally
located in the older plarit. One-story addition to this approximately the same size.
Casting shop, four-story, new style construction. Replaced old building. Con-
structed in 191 2.
208 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
One-story reinforced concrete and brick oilhouse. Built in 1916.
Extension of power house on canal. One-story, brick. Built in 19 10.
Extension of japanning building on Mill Street, built 191 1.
Five-story extension to manufacturing building back of East Main Street,
brick, mill construction. Erected 1910. Frontage 200 feet.
One-story manufacturing building back of .Last Main ; built in 1909.
Five-story and basement manufacturing building, mill construction. Built
in 1910. Back of Mill Street.
Five-story manufacturing building; narrow frontage on Mill Street; length
about 250 feet, brick, mill construction. Erected in 1909.
Two reinforced concrete hve-story manufacturing buildings with frontage of
about 600 feet on East Main Street. Seventy-eight feet deep. Constructed in
1915 and 1916.
Two-story brick manufacturing building between Mill and Hayden streets.
Erected in 191 5.
Hayden Street residence completely remodeled for hospital uses, 1914.
One-story temporary structure added to smaller manufacturing building on
East Main Street.
Two-story box and barrel factory completely rebuilt after the fire.
One-story wood salvage plant building, erected in 1912.
Ash-reclaiming plant, built in 1913.
Incinerating plant built in the East yards in 19 13.
Hayden Street building thoroughly remodeled for paint shop.
Former garage in the East yards remodeled into tinsmithing plant.
Experimental building of brick and steel construction in East yards, built in
19 1 7. Used for research work.
Large storehouse 106 by 247 feet, steel frame with wood roof, built in 191 5
with front on East Main Street. Moved in 1916 to Silver Street plant.
The first unit of new power houses in Silver Street plant. Has capacity of
8,000 kilowatts. Furnishes electric power only. Erected in 1916. Part of a
duplicate unit now under construction.
Steel and corrugated iron one-story temporary power and boiler house in
Silver Street plant.
Four-story, steel frame, brick walls, casting shop 160 by 200 feet. Erected
in 1916. This is the building with the twelve smoke stacks and is perhaps one of
the largest casting shops in the country.
Mill building, 120 by 220 feet, steel frame, brick and glass walls, one story high,
erected on Silver near Meriden Road in 191 7.
Small casting shop, steel and corrugated iron, 50 by 170, Silver Street plant,
erected in 1917.
One-story high mill building 310 by 850 feet, steel frame, brick and glass walls,
near Hamilton Avenue, started in 191 5; finished in 19 16.
Two-section barn, 40 by 200 feet, off Hamilton Avenue.
Chemical laboratory, 50 by 212 feet, one story high, reinforced concrete, on
Caroline and Ambrose streets. This is one of the most completely equipped labo-
ratories in the country. W. B. Price, chief chemist, is in charge.
Hot forging plant, one story high, steel frame and corrugated iron, 125 by
284 feet, erected in 1917.
There are now under construction :
New garage and manufacturing building, reinforced concrete, five stories,
East Main between Hamilton Avenue and Ambrose Street, 78 by 218 feet. One-
third of a proposed unit.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 209
Extension to the big mill building near I lamilton Avenue, size 200 by 225
feet. One story high, steel, brick and glass construction.
Extension to Silver Street plant power house, as already mentioned.
One-story, steel frame wood roof temporary extension to storehouse, 106 by
192 feet.
New hospital on Hamilton Avenue, west of Building 68. Heavy wood con-
struction. One story. Just completed.
In addition to this work, two dams have been built, the Mad River dam in
1916 and the Wolcott dam in 19 17.
The financial returns from this vast progressive plant have been enormous.
On January 25, 19 1 7, the Scovill Manufacturing Company declared an extra
dividend of 10 per cent, payable February 1st. This was the tenth monthly divi-
dend of 10 per cent to be declared in succession. On January 1st, the extra and
the regular quarterly 2 per cent were paid, and a special dividend of 25 per cent
in Anglo-French bonds was distributed on January 5th. In 1916, the extra and
regular dividends amounted to in per cent.
The balance sheets for 191 5 and 1916 follow:
1915 1916
Land, buildings and machinery $ 6,157,547 $ 7,390,950
Cash and certificates of deposit 3,436,212 6,047,763
Bonds 1,409,947 S.SW'SSS
Stock in other companies 3,248 56,788
Bills rec, etc 3,004,471 5,671,588
Merchandise 3>5°9>i3 6 5»3 I 4,79°
$17,520,561 $28,001,237
Capital stock $ 5,000,000 $ 5,000,000
Surplus 2,163,846 2,588,208
Accounts payable, etc 2,882,353 809 567
Contingencies and improvement reserve 1,500,000 4,000,000
Reserve for taxes 2,200,000
Net earnings for year 5,974,362 13,403,462
$17,520,561 $28,001,237
The housing work done by the Scovill Manufacturing Company, one of its
most important methods of helpfulness to its employees, is fully covered under a
chapter devoted to that subject. The history of its police and fire departments,
which work in conjunction with the city departments, is fully told in the chapters
devoted to the city's protection methods.
Its hospital work started in January, 191 4, with Miss Nora A. O'Brian,
registered nurse, in charge. Miss O'Brian has three graduate nurse assistants and
two male nurses. The hospital is open night and day for service, and no matter how
slight the injury, it must be reported and looked after by the physician in charge.
The main hospital on Hayden Street has an operating room, rest rooms for men
and women, an X-ray room, a sterilizing room and a laboratory. The East
Hospital contains all of these equipments except laboratory and X-ray room.
These hospitals provide for free examination of employees, free treatment in
case of accidents and also serve to assist in placing employees at work which
cannot aggravate any organic trouble which they may possess.
Vol. 1—14
210 WATERBURY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY
In explanation of the work the following written by the capable nurse in
charge of the Scovill Manufacturing Company's hospital, Miss Nora O'Brian, in
her 1916 report, is enlightening:
"During our few years' existence, our experience has taught us that, in the
administration of industrial enterprises, few factors are of more importance than
medical and surgical supervision; care of the health and sanitary conditions, in
the modern industrial concerns, carries with it no light responsibility. Employees
are constantly encouraged to seek medical and surgical aid and advice in case of
even the most trivial accident or the slightest illness. No physical phase in the
life of the employee, or his family, is too large or too small to claim the atten-
tion of the company's physicians and surgeons, and a visiting nurse, whose service
is gratuitous, is always on call and frequent visits are made to the homes of the
employees. During the past year the management is able to report numerous
improvements and better general conditions. With the co-operation of the
employment office, with the information obtained from our various committees
and associations, we are frequently able to place employees having physical disa-
bilities to good advantage and applicants for work are not necessarily debarred
because of physical disabilities. When we find, through accident or observation,
an employee who is not fitted for his work and is undermining his health by
performing such work, with the co-operation of the foreman this employee is
placed to advantage and kept under observation.
"Due to the co-operation of the foreman, by reporting accidents immedi-
ately, infection cases are reduced to a minimum and very little time is lost
through infection.
"Employees suffering from physical disabilities, such as hernia, epilepsy,
varicose veins and diseases of the heart and kidneys, must sign instructions not
to do any heavy lifting or over-exert themselves and are placed to advantage,
also kept continually under observation by reporting to the hospital for peri-
odical examination.
"The number of accidents for the year 1916 will approximate 16,000; casual-
ties (for which the company is not held responsible), 11,287; total number of
cases treated by the medical department in all its branches, 27,286 ; total number
of surgical dressings, 60,000; as compared with 11,493 accidents, 4,623 casualties,
and 16,728 dressings during the previous year. The increase in number of cases
is due principally to a much larger number being employed, and also because
employees have been encouraged more strongly to report any indisposition to the
hospital.
"The management has also extended the use of the Scovill Hospital to
employees of outside concerns, who may be working on the premises. Due to
the extensive additions and alterations of the Scovill plant for the past few years,
the number of outside concerns' employees receiving treatment at this hospital
has shown a decided increase. During the year 191 4, forty outside employees
were treated; 1915, 400; and indications for the present year are that 500 outside
employees will probably receive treatment at this hospital."
The employment bureau of the Scovill Company, established as a distinct
branch of the vast business, was opened in 1914, and is now in charge of
Robert E. Piatt, head of the industrial service department. All applicants, both
men and women, pass through this department, averaging from 50 to 100 a day.
When an employee is first taken on, he is given a set of instructions in the;
language he can read best, to which he signs his name. These instructions in
effect tell him to "go to the hospital when he is injured or sick." He is given a
ticket describing him, his injury, where and when occurred, etc. This, when
\\ ATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 211
injured, he takes to the hospital at once, where he receives treatment, the ticket
being given a serial number and tiled for reference.
The employment bureau is closely connected with what is known as the
permanent safety advisory committee, a group of representative foremen and
superintendents who carry on frequent inspection of dangerous localities and
investigate all serious accidents with a view to carrying out such changes as will
lessen the chance of a repetition. Furthermore, new buildings and machinery
are designed with special reference to safety and health, while all dangerous
tools, machines and localities are safeguarded as soon as recommendation is made
by this committee. But in the matter of the help they do much to see that in the
line of both skilled and unskilled labor, only physically able men and women are
taken on.
The industrial service department was started in April, 19T7, with Rev. H. D.
Gallaudet in charge. He left in May to enter the army service and Robert E.
Piatt is now in charge of this work. It is rapidly developing into its proposed
line of usefulness, which to begin with will be largely survey work so that special
adjustments can be made intelligently. It is proposed to develop this department
so that in its sociological work it will help the employees along educational as
well as along recreational lines.
It is interesting to note here that the service flag of the company, which is
now, December, 191 7, in preparation, will have about four hundred stars in it.
The Scovill Manufacturing Company has had but little labor trouble. On
August 25, 191 5, the company increased wages 15 per cent and granted the
Saturday half-holiday with full pay. Since that date it has made further sub-
stantial increases with a bonus system which enables the skilled workmen to make
excellent wages.
The number of women employed changes often. At present, December, 1917,
about one-quarter of all employed are women.
The officers of the corporation have been as follows :
PRESIDENTS
J. M. L. Scovill 1850-1857
Scovill M. Buckingham 1857-1861
Samuel W. Hall 1861-1868
Frederick J. Kingsbury 1868-1900
Chauncey P. Goss 1900-1917
VICE PRESIDENTS
Frederick J. Kingsbury 1900-191 1
Mark L. Sperry 1911-1917
TREASURERS
William H. Scovill 1850-1854
Scovill M. Buckingham 1855-1861
F. J. Kingsbury 1861-1864
Henry Merriman for one month.
F. J. Kingsbury 1 864-1865
I '.arrett Ripley 1865-1866
Chauncey P. Goss 1866-1917
212 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
SECRETARIES
Scovill M. Buckingham 1850-1858
Edward S. Clark 1858-1862
Frederick J. Kingsbury 1862-1864
Chauncey P. Goss 1864-1869
Mark L. Sperry 1869-1917
ASSISTANT TREASURER
Edward O. Goss 1 900-1917
ASSISTANT SECRETARY
Theophilus R. Hyde, Jr 1900-1907
C. M. DeMott 1907-1917
DIRECTORS
James M. L. Scovill 1850-1857
William H. Scovill 1850-1854
Scovill M. Buckingham 1850-1862
George Mallory 1850-1855
Samuel W. Hill 1850-1877
Mark L. Sperry l &77~
Edward S. Clark 1855-1862
Samuel Holmes 1855-1878
Frederick J. Kingsbury 1858-191 1
Christopher C. Post 1862-1869
Scovill M. Buckingham 1863-1889
Douglass F. Maltby 1866-1867
Thomas L. Scovill 1866-1886
Thomas C. Morton 1867-1876
Douglass F. Maltby 1 869-1898
Chauncey P. Goss l &77~
Washington I. Adams 1878-1896
William E. Curtis 1910-
Henry W. Scovill 1889-
Guernsey S. Parsons 1890-1897
Joseph T. Whitlesey 1896-1903
Theophilus R. Hyde, Jr 1897-1901
Edward O. Goss 1898-
John H. Goss !9°3-
C. M. DeMott 1907-
The present directors are: C. P. Goss, E. O. Goss, |. H. Goss, Mark L.
Sperry, H. W. Scovill, W. E. Curtis, C. M. DeMott.
CAPITAL
1850 — January, original $ 200,000
1852 — January, increase 50,000
1854 — January, increase 50,000
1865 — September, increase 50,000
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 213
1882 — August, increase 50,000
1892 — January, increase 1,200,000
1900 — January, increase 900,000
1904 — January, increase 750,000
1907 — January, increase 750,000
1913 — January, increase 1,000,000
$5,000,000
THE MATTHEWS & WILLARD MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Matthews & Willard plant on North Elm Street is now a branch of the
Scovill Manufacturing Company, having been bought out in May, 1903. It was
incorporated originally for $250,000 in 1890, and its officers then were: Presi-
dent, F. L. Curtis; treasurer, C. P. Goss; secretary and manager, George G.
Blakeslee. Its output is along the general lines of brassware made by the Scovill
Company.
CHAPTER XVII
OTHER BRASS AND BRASSWARE COMPANIES
THE AMERICAN RING COMPANY RANDOLPH & CLOWES COMPANY THE WATERBURY
ROLLING MILLS A. H. WELLS & CO. FRENCH MANUFACTURING COMPANY THE
PILLING BRASS COMPANY WATERBURY BRASS GOODS CORPORATION STEELE &
JOHNSON THE NATIONAL COMPANY — THE SMITH & GRIGGS MANUFACTURING
COMPANY THE SHOE HARDWARE COMPANY PLATT BROTHERS & COMPANY
NOVELTY MANUFACTURING COMPANY BERBECKER & ROWLAND MATTATUCK
MANUFACTURING COMPANY WATERBURY BUCKLE COMPANY — L. C. WHITE
COMPANY NOERA MANUFACTURING COMPANY THE GENERAL MANUFACTUR-
ING COMPANY THE AMERICAN FASTENER COMPANY THE SIMONSVILLE MAN-
UFACTURING COMPANY THE WATERBURY METAL WARES COMPANY THE
SOMERS COMPANY, INC. — THE CONNECTICUT MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
The Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company is one of the larger inde-
pendent manufacturing establishments of the country. It was organized in 1869,
assuming its present name in 1871. Israel Holmes was its first president and
David S. Plume its treasurer. It constructed the older part of its present factory
on Bank Street in 1872, also purchasing the brass rolling mill of the Thomas
Manufacturing Company at Thomaston. Within the past twenty years the plant
at Thomaston has been greatly enlarged and the factory in Waterbury, a very
modest structure to begin with, has now a frontage of 679 feet on Bank and
144 feet on Jackson streets. There are in all twelve buildings in the present plant.
The Waterbury factory manufactures general brass products which are sold to
retailers and jobbers all over the world.
The presidents since 1890 have been: Lewis J. Atwood to February 23, 1909;
Cbarles H. Tucker, April 19, 1909, to February 8, 1910; Walter S. Atwood,
February 8, 1910, to February 14, 191 1; John Booth Burrall, February 4, 191 1,
to the present time.
The vice presidents of the company have been as follows : Charles H. Tucker,
February 11, 1902, to April 19, 1909; Walter S. Atwood from April 19, 1909,
to February 8, 1910; Robert C. Swayze, from February 8, 1910, to February, 1916,
when he was succeeded by the present vice president, Otis S. Northrop. E. M.
Burrall, one of Waterbury 's most enterprising manufacturers, was for fifteen
years, until his death in 1901, a director of this company.
The present secretary is S. Kellogg Plume, elected February 11, 191 5, suc-
ceeding Fred T. Millham. David S. Plume was its treasurer from January 25,
1870, to February 19, 1907. He was succeeded by John Booth Burrall. The
present treasurer, John H. Hurlbut, has been in office since February 11, 1914.
Its capital is $1,250,000 and it employs about one thousand hands in the
plants at Waterbury and Thomaston.
The Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company are manufacturers of brass,
copper and German silver in the sheet, wire and rod, copper and brass rivets and
burrs, printers' rule strips and galley plates, brass butt hinges, brass and iron
214
WATERBURY AND THE N'AUGATUCK VALLEY 215
jack chain, escutcheon pins, "The Royal Lamp," kerosene oil burners and lamps,
lamp trimmings and gas and electric fixture parts.
THE AMERICAN RING COMPANY
The American Ring Company , now under the control of the Plume & Atwood
Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1852. It started at first on Canal
Street in a very small factor}'. Today in its Rank Street factories it employs
500 people. Its capital is $50,000. This is the original amount for which the
company had been incorporated and has not been changed.
The company manufactures furniture trimmings and bathroom accessories,
which are sold to jobbers and retailers. It has a five-story factory and branch
offices in New York, Roston, Chicago and San Francisco.
The officers in i$()?, were: E. M. Burrall, president; D. S. Plume, treasurer;
and David N. Plume, secretary. On the death of D. N. Plume in 1899, F. S.
Chesson became secretary. In 1902 Charles H. Tucker was made president, with
D. S. Flume treasurer, and F. W. Chesson secretary. In 1906 the officers were :
Charles IF Tucker, president; D. S. Plume, treasurer; John M. Burrall, secretary;
John R. Rurrall, assistant treasurer. February 11, 1914, John B. Burrall was
elected president and treasurer, and John M, Burrall secretary and general
manager, which positions they hold in 1917.
One of its most successful patents, which is still manufactured in large
quantities, is the Washburne fastener, a combination button and spring clasp.
It is today a staple in trades and industries requiring fasteners.
The great success of this company was due largely to the business acumen
and progressiveness of Edward Milton Burrall, its president from 1888 to 1901,
the year of his death. He was for years vice president and trustee of the Dime
Savings Bank and a director of the Colonial Trust Company.
RANDOLPH & CLOWES COMPANY
Of the various establishments in the brass industry aside from the Scovill
Manufacturing Company, the Chase Companies, and the American Brass Com-
pany one of the largest single plants is that of the Randolph & Clowes Company.
This firm began business in 1886, purchasing part of the plant of the defunct
concern of Brown & Brothers. Edward F. Randolph, of New York, furnished
the money and the management was placed in the hands of George H. Clowes.
Work was begun in April, 1886, with fifty men and one clerk. At the end of
three years, the business had grown to $600,000 a year, largely by reason of the
ability and energy of Mr. Clowes.
In 1890 Mr. Clowes had developed the business to such an extent that he
was prepared for the manufacture of sheet brass and sheet copper and bought
the disused rolling mill of the old company for this purpose.
The death of Mr. Randolph in 1898 forced a change in the affairs of the
company, and long litigation ended in the defeat of Mr. Clowes, Charles Miller
and associates taking over the Randolph and controlling interest in the firm of
Randolph & Clowes.
Mr. Clowes did much to develop Waterbury, not alone along manufacturing
lines, but in the way of civic beautification. In a few years he worked marvelous
changes at Norwood, the Pines and at Overlook. In 1894 Mr. Clowes was presi-
dent of the Board of Trade. He died May 17, 191 2.
In August, 1899, Randolph & Clowes was incorporated for $500,000 and its
216 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
first officers were : President, C. P. Goss ; treasurer, Franklin A. Taylor ; secretary
Curtis J. Birkenmayer. In 1904 Charles Miller, to whomi the courts awarded a
controlling interest, acquired by purchase during the previous few years, was
chosen president ; Franklin A. Taylor, vice president and secretary, and Charles E.
Hall, treasurer.
In 1917 its officers are: Vice president, Ralph H. Smith; secretary, Henry I.
Farnum. Its president, Charles Miller, died February 6, 1917, and Mr. Hall
died later in the year.
Mr. Miller was one of the most prominent business men of Waterbury, having
come here in i860 and with Henry H. Peck founded the Miller & Peck Dry
Goods Company. In 1899 he retired from this and devoted his time to the devel-
opment of the business of Randolph & Clowes. Mr. Miller died at the ripe age
of seventy-nine years and five months.
The Randolph & Clowes plant today comprises twenty buildings in which
about seven hundred men are regularly employed. Fully half of these buildings
are of modern factory construction and equipped with one of the finest crane
systems in the city.
It manufactures seamless drawn brass and copper tubing and shells to 32
inches in diameter ; sheet brass and bronze ; brass and bronze rods ; Muntz metal
sheets and rods ; marine bronze sheets and rods ; brazed brass tubing and mould-
ing; spun brass kettles and Brown & Brothers seamless copper range boilers.
THE WATERBURY ROLLING MILLS
The Waterbury Rolling Mills, Inc., was organized in March, 1907. Its capital
is $200,000. The first officers of the company were : President, Ambrose H.
Wells; secretary and assistant treasurer, Fred B. Beardsley; treasurer, Frank P.
Welton.
Its officers in 1917 are: Cornelius Tracy, president; Fred B. Beardsley,
secretary and treasurer ; R. D. Somers, vice president and assistant treasurer.
In 1908 additions of considerable importance were made to the plant. The
new factory building put up in that year is of brick and steel construction, one
story high, 65 by 150 feet in size, with wing 32 by 40 feet. The casting shop
and boiler house are of the same construction, also one story in height. The
dimensions are 50 by 64 feet and 34 by 45 feet, respectively, and were put up
in 1908.
In 1909 the one-story concrete and steel building, 48 by 150 in size, was
erected, together with some frame additions. Further additions followed and in
1917 a shipping building, blacksmith shop, and a new garage are under
construction.
The Waterbury Rolling Mill employs about one hundred and twenty-five hands,
and manufactures German silver, bronze, gilding metal, platers, bars, low brass
and other special alloys in sheet and rolls.
A. H. WELLS & CO.
A. H. Wells & Co. began business in 1887. Its incorporation, however, was
deferred until 1907, when its capital was fixed at $50,000. In 1916, this was
increased to $250,000. Its first president was A. H. Wells, who died February 15,
1910. The company since then has had the following officers: President, S. J.
Wells; secretary, C. H. Wells; treasurer, G. H. Wells.
\\ ATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 217
Its output is confined to small sizes of seamless brass and copper tubing. The
plant gives employment to 160 hands.
In [905, the new factory building on Watertown Avenue was added to the
plant, and from that time on extensions have been made repeatedly with the
growth of business.
Both brick and concrete and frame additions were put up in 1907, 1908 and
1909, the latter 40 by 100 feet in size. The additions in 191 1 were one-story
brick structures, 64 by 107 and 35 by 55. Smaller additions were made in 1914,
and in KJ15 and 1916 a 100 by 160 factory was erected. Many improvements have
been added in the past two years.
The plant is today one of the most complete of its kind in the country.
THE FRENCH MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The French Manufacturing Company was organized in 1905, with F. W.
French as president, L. R. Carter as treasurer, and George L. Jenks as secretary.
Its capital was $25,000, increased March 2, 1910, to $50,000, and March 14,
1913, to $100,000.
The first factory was built at 128 Robbins Street, and was 40 by 60 feet.
Since then additions have been built every two years. The factory is now 260
by 80 feet, and three stories in height. It is of brick and steel construction, with
cement floors and roof. The company manufactures seamless brass tubing in
small sizes and fine gauges, also seamless brass copper, aluminum and other alloy
tubing and various products made from seamless tubes. It also manufactures
piano player hardware and copper electrical linings, its product is sold to other
manufacturers.
Its plant is operated by electric power. It employs 140 hands, of whom
35 per cent are skilled workmen.
THE PILLING BRASS COMPANY
The Pilling Brass Company was incorporated in April, 1907, with a capital of
$25,000, increased July 8, 191 5, to $100,000. Its business from the outset has
been that of making thin gauges of brass, copper and German silver. Its first
officers were : J. W. Pilling, president and treasurer, and Jacob L. Sweiger,
secretary. Mr. Sweiger sold out in 1909 and was succeeded by James H. Pilling
as secretary. It has greatly enlarged its plant, building a new addition in 1916.
On November 1, 1917, the business was sold to the Connecticut Brass Cor-
poration of West Cheshire, Conn., which is now operating the plant under the
name of the Connecticut Brass and Manufacturing Corporation. The Con-
necticut Brass Corporation was started in 1912 by Michael E. Keeley and sold
in 1 91 7 to the Liggett interests, who also owned the Mayo Radiator Company
of New Haven, and wanted to secure an assured supply of sheet brass. About
five hundred hands are employed in the two plants, and this will be increased
soon to 800. The company is planning large extensions. The Connecticut Brass
Company supplies all of the metal needed for the manufacturing of the Mayo
radiators, and the Cheshire plant furnishes sheets to be further manufactured
into small sizes by the Waterbury plant.
THE WATERBURY BRASS GOODS CORPORATION
The Waterbury Br.iss Goods Corporation was incorporated in July, 1904, and
took over remanufacturing departments of American Brass Company subsidiaries.
218 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Its capital is $500,000. Its president is John A. Coe, Jr., its secretary John P.
Durfee, its treasurer Gordon W. Burnham.
The company is a large manufacturer of brass goods, lamps, kerosene burners,
butts, hinges, chains, and brass and bronze castings. It occupied part of the
Holmes, Booth & Haydens plant. It erected its first two buildings in its Wash-
ington Street plant in 1909, and added two large buildings in 191 1 and 1912.
THE STEELE & JOHNSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Steele & Johnson Manufacturing Company was incorporated on March
17, 1857, as the Steele & Johnson Button Company. In 1874 the business was
removed to its present location on South Main Street and in 1888 the company
purchased the property and erected its first structures. In 1894 the officers were :
Charles M. Mitchell, president and treasurer, and Benjamin L. Coe, secretary and
superintendent. Elisha Steele, the founder of the business, died in June, 1875.
Charles F. Mitchell, the present executive, succeeded his father in the position.
Benjamin L. Coe still holds his position as secretary.
Its capitalization is $150,000.
The company manufactures brass goods from sheet wire, rod and tubing,
sheets, drawn, stamped and spun ; stamped shells up to 24 inches diameter, nuts,
washers, chain, brass and iron chandelier chain, buttons for uniforms, ornaments
and novelties, supplies for lighting fixtures, electrical and plumbers' trades, and
automatic screw machine products.
Since 1900 the company has put up eight factory buildings on its present
site. The largest of these buildings, four stories, 42 by 150, was put up in 1909
and 1 9 10. A four-story factory, 40 by 89, was put up in 1907 and 1908, and
another of four stories, 33 by 51, was erected in 191 1.
OTHER BRASS COMPANIES
Newcomers in the field are the Waterbury Brass and Bronze Company, which
in 1917 changed its name to the Connecticut Brass Foundry Company. Its
business is devoted to brass, bronze and aluminum castings. It was incorporated
originally in 1916 for $10,000, with Bernhard L. Coe as president and Henry L.
Silver as secretary and treasurer.
The Eastern Brass and Ingot Company, of New York, entered the Waterbury
field in 1916. While incorporated in New York, it is a Chicago firm, with
Howard Baker of Chicago as president. A. C. Duryea, vice president, is in
charge of the new plant erected in the fall of 1916 on East Aurora Street. Its
business is the conversion of finely-divided metal scrap into solid briquet-ingots.
It employs fifty hands.
THE NATIONAL COMPANY
The National Company, manufacturers of brass, copper, bronze and nickel
seamless tubing, has made a record in 191 7, its plant having been increased in
the past twelve months from 7,000 square feet in its main buildings to 21,000
square feet. It was incorporated in April, 191 3, with a capital of $250,000. Its
officers then were : President and treasurer, M. J. Byrne ; vice president, A. A.
Tanner ; secretary, George M. Beach. These are its present officers, with the
exception that the vice presidency is now held by Walter N. Lovell. In addition
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 219
to its officers, its directors are B. M. Gardner of Cleveland and Miss Mary C.
( )'Neill of Waterbury. The company employs about one hundred men.
Jt is doing some excellent housing work near its plant on Huntingdon Avenue.
having in process of construction a 28-room single story dwelling, which is to he
for the use of four families. Each seven-room section has a cellar, city water,
electric light and every possible convenience.
THE SMITH & GRIGGS MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Smith & Griggs Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1869 for
S40.000, and this capital was not increased until 1907, when it was fixed at
S ;oo,ooo, the amount of its present capitalization. The original partnership was
formed in 1864 by John E. Smith and Henry C. Griggs.
The company manufactures all kinds of brass and metal goods, buckles,
clasps, auto and carriage hardware, etc.
In 1894 A. S. Chase was president; E. S. Smith, treasurer; R. H. Smith,
secretary.
Its officers and directors in 1917 are: Ralph H. Smith, president and treas-
urer; J. R. Smith, assistant secretary; directors, Ralph H. Smith, J. R. Smith,
H. S^ Chase, I. H. Chase, A. J. Smith, R. F. Griggs, Julius Maltby.
Its plant on South Main Street, near Pearl Lake Road, was enlarged in
1906 by the addition of two factories, sizes 43 by 137 and 20 by 30.
THE SHOE HARDWARE COMPANY
The Shoe Hardware Company of Waterbury was organized with a capital
of $25,000 in 1898. This was increased to $400,000 December 20, 1913, and
reduced to $100,000 April 19, 1917. It is a subsidiary of the United States
Rubber Company and manufactures much of the hardware used by that corpora-
tion. Its annual output of buckles runs into many millions. There have been
few changes in the personnel of its officials since its organization. In November,
191 7, Henry L. Hotchkiss, of New Haven, who had been president since its
organization in 1898, resigned and A. D. Field, of Waterbury, who had been
secretarv and treasurer since the company began business, was elected president ;
Mr. Hotchkiss becoming vice president and E. W. Rutherford secretary.
The company's plant on Brown Street has been greatly extended, additions
having been made nearly every year of its existence. In 1900 the central three-
storv building, 86 by 97, was erected, and in 1908 the large addition, 66 by 82, and
the brick boiler house were added. In 1909 the wing, 73 by 107, was added. In
ion and 1912 the five-story brick building, 84 by 99, and the three-story brick-
building were added.
Henry L. Hotchkiss, who was its president for so many years, has been closely
identified with the United States Rubber Company as a director and was on its
executive committee for the first seven years of its existence.
THE PLATT BROTHERS & COMTAXV
Among the long-established manufacturing enterprises of Waterbury is that
of the Piatt Brothers & Company, which was incorporated in 1876, but was
founded on the first of April, 1847. Even before that date the business had its
inception, having been established by Alfred Piatt, grandfather of Lewis A. Piatt,
who is now president of the concern.
220 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
It continued the manufacture of buttons until 1910, when that branch of
the business was taken over by a newly organized company under the name of
the Patent Button Company, capital $48,000, of which Lewis A. Piatt, however,
remains the treasurer. The original firm of A. Piatt & Co. was afterward reor-
ganized under the name of A. Piatt & Sons and upon the death of the founder
of the business it was incorporated in 1876 under the name of The Piatt
Brothers & Company. The capital is $30,000. It has not been changed. This
company manufactures all kinds of light metal articles, including eyelets, and
sells direct to manufacturers. It employs about one hundred operatives in the
factory, 50 per cent being skilled labor. After the incorporation of the company,
W. S. Piatt was chosen president, with his brother, Clark M. Piatt, as secretary
and treasurer. The latter succeeded to the presidency on the death of W. S.
Piatt in 1886, while Lewis A. Piatt, son of Clark M. Piatt, became secretary.
He continued in that office until chosen to the presidency, which position he
still fills.
The Piatt Brothers & Company factory was destroyed by fire in 1893, but
was rebuilt in 1896 and 1897 and contains about twenty thousand square feet.
It uses both water and electric power and the factory is equipped with both
individual and group motors. There are five turbine water wheels, furnishing
400 horse power from the river. Clark M. Piatt continued as president to the
time of his death in 1900, when Lewis A. Piatt became president, with J. H. Hart
as treasurer and Wallace H. Camp as secretary.
THE NOVELTY MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Novelty Manufacturing Company was organized in June, 1872, and
William Bake was president; Edwin H. Putnam, treasurer; Thomas Fitzsimons,
secretary, and John Cushbaum, with the three officers, constituted the board of
directors. The business was begun at 125 Maple Street in a small way. In 1886
Mr. Blake died and Mr. Putnam became president. On his death in 1889, Mr.
Fitzsimons, who had been treasurer from 1886 to 1889 became president and
treasurer, purchasing the Putnam interest, with Mr. William E. Blake as secre-
tary. The latter withdrew in February, 1892, and in July Louis E. Fitzsimons
became secretary. Thomas Fitzsimons died in 191 1, and Oscar Fitzsimons
served as president from 1910 until October, 1912, with Louis E. Fitzsimons as
secretary and treasurer. On October 2, 191 2, C. L. Holmes bought out Oscar
Fitzsimons and on the 23d of January, 1913, became vice president, with Louis E.
Fitzsimons as president and treasurer. O. S. Gage became secretary October 2,
191 2, and the three officers remained in their respective positions until August,
1917, when Louis E. Fitzsimons died.
In 1894 the company built a factory, 36 by 88, four stories, of mill con-
struction. In 1900 it built a large addition in two parts, four stories. In 1902
it bought more ground, the building on it was remodeled and in 1906 a new
building was added. The company now has 50,000 square feet in all.
On July 13, 1910, the capital stock was increased from $12,500 to $200,000.
The company manufactures metal goods, including bathroom fittings and
accessories. It is the largest manufacturer in the United States of pipe ferrules,
table cutlery, trimmings, lawn sprays, cabinet hardware, and curtain fasteners
for automobiles. It makes all kinds of metal specialties, manufacturing several
thousand different lines. It sells to other manufacturers and to the retail trade.
It has a tool making department. It employs over two hundred and fifty people.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 221
THE BERBECKER & ROWLAND MANUFACTURING! COMPANY
The Berbecker & Rowland Manufacturing Company was organized in 1894,
capital $150,000, when Herbert S. Rowland purchased an interest in the Tucker
Manufacturing Company, which had been incorporated July 31, 1886. Its capital
today is $350,000.
The officers in 1895 were: Julius Berbecker, president; C. W. H. Berbecker,
secretary, and H. S. Rowland, treasurer.
In 1917 the officers are: E. N. Berbecker, president; Herbert S. Rowland,
secretary and treasurer; and Robert S. Booth, assistant treasurer. Its capital
is unchanged.
The growth of the business is indicated by the fact that the plant has doubled
its capacity several times by the building of various additions to the factory.
Since 1900 it has erected thirteen factory buildings in its twenty acres of ground
at Waterville.
It now employs 275 people. The company manufactures cabinet, upholstery
and drapery hardware, which is sold all over the United States and abroad.
Its buildings are nearly all of mill construction.
THE MATTATUCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Mattatuck Manufacturing Company was organized October 15, 1896,
with Henry L. Wade as president, George E. Judd as treasurer, and George
Tucker as secretary. On the death of Mr. Wade, Mr. Judd succeeded him as
president, while continuing in the office of treasurer, and Mr. Tucker has been
succeeded by William E. Fielding, who is now secretary and general manager.
Its capital is $225,000.
The factory at No. 1987 East Main Street has a frontage of 200 feet. The
property of the company covers several acres of land, with seven model houses
for employes.
There are two factory buildings, each 150 by 44 feet, four stories high, and
of mill construction, with the sprinkler system.
The company manufactures brass and wire goods, furniture nails, upholstery
nails, spring bed fabrics, screw machine products, handcuffs, wire forms and
shapes and novelties. The company employs 500 people, 60 per cent skilled,
15 per cent girls.
THE WATERBURY BUCKLE COMPANY
The W'aterbury Buckle Company was organized April 7, 1853. Its capital
was increased in 19 12 to $400,000. Its present officers are Archer J. Smith,
president and treasurer, and Julius Maltby, secretary.
The company now has 400 employes, mostly skilled. Its main factory is 600 by
400 feet, the old building three stories high and the new building five stories.
The company manufactures all kinds of buckles and brass and steel specialties,
selling extensively to other manufacturers.
Its early success was due largely to the work of its former president, Earl
Smith, who joined the company first as secretary and manager in 1865 and later
as president. He died July 22, 1906, having been with the company over thirty
years. At his death he was president of the American Mills Company, the Smith
& Griggs Company, the Narrow Fabric Company of New Haven, the Waterbury
222 WATERBURY AND THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY
Buckle Company, and a director in the Waterbury National Bank. In 1890 he
was one of the committee appointed to revise Waterbury 's charter. He was
prominent not alone in industrial lines, but took a deep interest in the civic
development of the city.
THE L. C. WHITE COMPANY
The L. C. White Company was incorporated July, 1888, for $15,000, at which
it remains today. In 1893 George L. White became president and served until
his death, December 1, 1914. Frank J. Ludington continued as vice president
until his death October 11, 1909, when Frederick W. Ludington succeeded him
and is still in office. In 1903 George L. White, Jr., became secretary and in
1914 became president and treasurer, with W. H. White as secretary.
The company manufactures buttons, upholstering nails and button part nov-
elties, and employs 100 people, mostly men. It developed a line of automatic
machinery for the manufacture of its product, which is sold all over the United
States and abroad to jobbers and manufacturers.
THE NOERA MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Noera Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1905, although it
had been in business as the Noera Company for many years. Its president and
treasurer is Frank P. Noera, and its secretary is George W. Seeton.
The capital is today $75,000, the amount given in the original incorporation
papers.
The Noera Company employs 275 hands, making all kinds of hardware spe-
cialties, bicycle and auto sundries, but particularly oil cans, of which its output
is very heavy.
Its new factories were erected in 191 1 and 1912 and the larger brick building
was put up in 191 5 and 191 6. In 191 7 storage buildings have been added to
the plant.
THE GENERAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The General Manufacturing Company was organized in 1909 with a capital
of $10,000 and the following officers in charge: President, John Draher; secre-
tary, Charles F. Probst ; treasurer, Max Kiessling.
In 19 1 5 the capital was increased to $40,000 and Charles H. Swenson suc-
ceeded to the position of secretary.
In 1917 the officers remain as above, with Miller P. Dayton as vice president.
The General Manufacturing Company employs about seventy-five people,
and its specialty is the manufacture of rivets, screws, and steel balls.
The company began business in 1907, two years before its incorporation, and
erected its first buildings on Brown Street in 191 1 and 191 2. Its plant was
greatly extended in 191 3 and 191 4.
THE AMERICAN FASTENER COMPANY
The American Fastener Company was organized in November, 191 5, with
a capital of $24,000, and with Charles Josephson, of New York, as president ;
John Draher, of the General Manufacturing Company, as treasurer, and Max
Kiessling, also of the General Manufacturing Company, as secretary.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 223
This company manufactures press buttons and Mr. Kiessling is the inventor
of the machine used in manufacturing them. The concern employs twelve people
and Mr. Kiessling has done much toward developing the automatic machines
used by this company, as well as those used by the General Company. Its
factory was erected in 1915.
THE SIMONSVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Simonsville Manufacturing Company, located on Pearl Lake Road near
Tracy Avenue, was incorporated in July, 1916, for $25,000. It has leased its
present site and has increased its capacity by adding a 40 by 20 addition to the
older 60 by 20 building. Its president is Charles W. Roller; secretary, George
Carney; treasurer, Roderick Perrault. The business was begun by these officers
in 1915 as a partnership to manufacture Diamond brass paper fasteners. These
are much like the old McGill fasteners, except that they have the diamond point.
The company also manufactures tools and does much other novelty work.
THE WATERBURY METAL WARES COMPANY
The Waterbury Metal Wares Company was incorporated October 23, 191 5,
for $50,000, and in November opened its factory on Jackson Street for the manu-
facture of specialties in brass and other metals, its main output being lighting
fixtures. The president of the company is L. W. Andersen; secretary, E. W.
Andersen. The position of treasurer is at present vacant.
THE SOMERS COMPANY, INC.
The Somers Company, Incorporated, was established in 191 5 and incorporated
in 191 6 with a capital of $50,000. It manufactures thin gauges of sheet brass in
its factory at 94 Baldwin Street. The officers are : Robert D. Somers, president,
who is also vice president and general manager of the Waterbury Rolling Mills ;
Louis J- Somers, secretary; Joseph E. Somers, treasurer.
THE CONNECTICUT MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Connecticut Manufacturing Company was incorporated December 29,
1909, with C. H. Swenson, president and treasurer, and John Swenson as secre-
tary. It established a plating plant which was, however, discontinued when
Mr. Swenson went with the General Manufacturing Company, of which he is now-
one of the principal officials.
CHAPTER XVIII
CLOCKS, WATCHES, PINS, NEEDLES, HOOKS AND EYES
THE WATERBURY CLOCK COMPANY THE BEGINNINGS OF THE "iNGERSOLU" WATCH
FROM THE ^JUMBO''' TO THE SMALL "DOLLAR" WATCH MAKING ITS OWN
CRYSTALS R. H. INGERSOLL & BROTHER BUY THE NEW ENGLAND WATCH COM-
PANY PLANT THE STORY OF THE "LONG WIND" WATERBURY WATCH THE LUX
CLOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY THE AMERICAN PIN COMPANY ITS PLANT
ITS NEW BUILDINGS SINCE igOO THE OAKVILLE COMPANY AND ITS EXTEN-
SIONS OFFICIALS OF THE BIG PIN COMPANIES.
Clock-making on a large scale in Waterbury was formerly a branch of the
business of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company. On March 2J,
1857, this was made a separate concern under the title of the Waterbury Clock
Company, with a capital of $60,000.
It grew rapidly and secured larger quarters on North Elm Street in 1873.
Arad W. Welton, the first president, was succeeded by Charles Benedict, at
whose death in 1881 G. W. Burnham became president. He died in 1885 and
Henry L. Wade, who had been secretary from 1871, was elected president, with
Irving H. Chase as secretary. Both continued in the business until 19 12, when
Mr. Wade died and Mr. Chase became president, with William J. Larkin as
secretary. The factory has been vastly enlarged and the number of employes
greatly increased. The company manufactures every kind of clock, and in many
designs. The output of its glass factory is now 2]A tons of glass per day and
this department alone employs 300 people. The total employes in 1887 were 300;
in 1917 they are over three thousand. The capacity is now 23,000 timepieces
daily.
The buildings are all of mill construction. The company manufactures its
own electricity and uses electric power group drive for motors. It has established
a large experimental department in which men are continuously employed. The
company now manufactures about seven hundred different styles of clocks,
watches, and special features of timepieces. It has recently erected a new
factory, 70 by no feet, six stories and basement, made of reinforced concrete,
and equipped with sprinkler system. The work benches of the company, placed
end to end, would extend over seven miles.
The Ingersoll "dollar" watch has much to do with the great success of the
Waterbury Clock Company. In 1899, the officers of the company conceived the
idea of putting upon the market a watchcase with a clock movement and small
enough to be carried in an overcoat pocket. It was sold for $1.50, was an inch
and a half in thickness, and nearly three inches in diameter. It wound up like
an alarm clock. It was called the "Jumbo" and a considerable sale was worked
up on it. In 1893 Robert H. Ingersoll was running a small store on Fulton
Street, New York, which he had opened in 1877 for the sale of rubber stamps
and novelties. He happened to see a "Jumbo" in a jeweler's window, realized
almost immediately what publicity could accomplish in the sale of what now
224
OFFICE OF THE WATERBURY CLOCK COMPANY. WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 225
seems a cumbersome timepiece, but then had all the earmarks of a successful
invention.
Mr. Ingersoll came to Waterbury, and after a thorough investigation placed
an order for 188,000 improved Jumbos. He sold all of them, and in the following
year his order was for 300,000. By this time the idea of a smaller watch had
taken possession of his inventive mind, and improvements followed so quickly
that by 19 10 the Waterbury Clock Company was delivering to R. H. Ingersoll
& Bro. 3,500,000 of the "dollar watches" every year. The output today in the
Waterbury Clock Company of these watches runs over 12,000 a day. This means
that there are always 168,000 of these watches in the timing racks, for no watch
is turned out until it has had at least a two weeks' "timing" test. Robert H.
Ingersoll in 1901 sold 1,000,000 of the watches to Symonds' London stores.
This started the present world-circling sale of the "dollar" watch.
As a result of the constantly expanding sale of this cheap, practical timepiece,
the Waterbury Clock Company has had its most phenomenal growth since 1900.
In that year it built two five-story brick factory additions, one 34 by 88 feet, the
other 40 by 114 feet. In 1901 it added three additional factories, each five stories
and respectively 34 by 88, 40 by 114, and 44 by 70. In 1904 and 1905 it added five
buildings to the plant. One of these was the brick boiler house, another the engine
house. One of the new factory buildings, of brick and heavy mill construction,
measures 43 by 116. The other five story brick measures 43 by 104. Approxi-
mately $125,000 was expended for new buildings in this period.
In 1907 and 1908 it had again outgrown its capacity and added a five story
factory, size 40 by 176. In 1909 and 1910 it expended approximately $100,000
on further additions.
The Waterbury Clock Company is probably the only concern of its kind that
has a factory for making its own watch crystals.
In 1914 after the outbreak of the war the Waterbury Clock Company found
itself shut off from its German and Swiss glass crystal sources. It was typical
American enterprise that started a factory to meet this need and had it in full
blast by May, 1915. The company is making about five hundred gross, or 72,000
crystals daily now. A new seven story factory now being erected is for use in
the making of watch crystals, and this means that the supply will be greatly
increased in 1918.
The entire watch output of the Waterbury Clock Company is sold to Robert
H. Ingersoll & Brother. This is the world-famous Ingersoll watch.
Its capital stock is today $4,000,000.
ROBERT H. INGERSOLL AND BROTHER
Like the Waterbury Clock Company, the Waterbury Watch Company, later
the New England Watch Company and now an integral part of the Robert H.
Ingersoll & Brother organization, was a department of the Benedict & Burnham
Manufacturing Company. It soon outgrew its quarters in the parent plant, in
which it had done business for two years, and in 1880 was organized as a new
corporation, the Waterbury Watch Company, with a capital of $400,000. The
factory completed in May, i88r, is the present site on Dover Street. Among its
first directors were Charles Benedict, Gordon W. Burnham, Charles Dickinson.
George Merritt, Edwin A. Locke and D. A. A. Buck.
It was through the ingenuity of D. A. A. Buck that the watch long known
to the country as the "long-wind Waterbury" was placed on the market. This
was finally withdrawn in 1891 and a perfected short-wind watch was introduced.
Vol. 1—13
226 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
In 1888 Augustus S. Chase succeeded Charles Dickinson as president and
remained in this office until his death in 1896. In this year, 1896, Arthur O.
Jennings was secretary and Edward L. Frisbie treasurer. At this period it
employed 400 hands.
In 1898 the Waterbury Watch Company became the New England Watch
Company with a capital of $600,000. Its president was E. L. Frisbie, and its sec-
retary and general manager was A. O. Jennings. It was then making a special
drive on the " Elfin" watch, the smallest time piece made in America, and on the
'"Hyde," which was in competition with the dollar watch.
By 1906 it had increased its capital to $750,000 and its president was George
L. White, its vice president E. L. Frisbie, Jr., its secretary William H. White
and its treasurer A. O. Jennings.
Competition now became so keen that the company was having a hard time
to make ends meet. Its cheap watch, successful for a time, could not stand up
under the long, hard struggle for permanent trade.
The capital had been increased to $1,000,000, but the sale of stock failed to
help the project and application for a receiver was made on July 17, 1912.
Harris Whittemore and John P. Elton were named as receivers.
In November, 1914, when the building and plant, which had been inventoried
at $325,000, were to be sold by court order, R. H. Ingersoll & Brother, who had
their main plant at Trenton, N. J., announced that they were ready to bid for it.
The city entered the combat, thinking to use the building as a Technical High
School. The belief was general that the plant was to be dismantled and the
machinery moved to Trenton. Charles H. Ingersoll, secretary and treasurer of
this company, then announced that the Ingersolls would at once put the plant
into condition for operation and would be turning out from 1,000 to 2,000 watches
daily within a year.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Aldermen both received this
pledge, on the strength of which the Ingersoll bid of $76,000 was accepted on
November 25, 1914.
This company has more than kept its promise. In 1917 it is employing 700
neople. has a weekly pay roll of over ten thousand dollars, and the output of
watches is reaching 1,500 a day. The company is now making what it terms the
"Ingersoll-Waterbury" watch, thus reviving the old name with a perfected time-
piece.
The receivership of the old company was finally ended on January 7, 191 6.
The Bannatyne Watch Company was incorporated for $100,000 in Novem-
ber, 1905, with Franklin Farrel, Jr., of Ansonia, president; George E. Bryant,
treasurer; Archibald Bannatyne, secretary. Mr. Bannatyne had been long in
the employ of the Waterbury Clock Company and was the practical man in the
new concern. Its factory was located at 31 to 37 Canal Street. The company
discontinued the business in 191 1. It manufactured principally a watch retailing
at $1.50 and smaller and neater than the original dollar watch, being more like
the improved lines selling at $1.50 and $2.00. Mr. Bannatyne has long been
regarded as the inventor of the original dollar watch by many people. He was
master mechanic of the Waterbury Clock Company when the "Jumbo" watch
was put out, and thinking along this line, decided that if it were manufactured
in large enough quantities, a small watch in a nickel case with a stem-wind could
be made at a price which would make it possible to retail it at $1.00. At that
time he estimated that on an order of 500,000 the manufacturing cost would be
29 cents each. The preliminary investment required for tools staggered the direc-
tors, however, and before anything was decided upon, Mr. Ingersoll visited the
FORMERLY NEW ENGLAND WATCH COMPANY; NOW OCCUPIED BY THE INGERSOLL-
WATERBURY PLANT. OWNED BY R. H. INGERSOLL & BROTHER
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 227
factory with a promise of a market for such a watch. In placing his original orders,
he insisted that his name should go on the dial, where it has remained to this day.
The old "long wind" Waterbury watch, on which D. A. A. Buck took out
twelve patents from 1S79 to 1885, was the pioneer cheap watch. It had what was
at that time a tremendous sale, although its retail price was $3.50. It was not
only the favorite hoy's watch but the rough-and-tumhle watch of hundreds of
thousands of men. Its tick was heard round the world and had made Waterbury
famous. Why was it not the Waterbury watch that developed into a dollar
watch ? Why did the Waterbury Clock company seize the idea which would
have saved the Waterbury Watch Company from liquidation?
The Waterbury watch ceased to be an attractive novelty because of its long
wind, which was a favorite joke of vaudeville performers and newspaper humor-
i-is. and the company came to the conclusion in 1891 that cheap watches were
only a passing novelty. It was decided to manufacture medium grade watches
and for fear the cheapness of the Waterbury watch would cling to the new
product, the name of the corporation was changed to The New England Watch
Company. Thus the factory entered upon the experiment of starting in new
fields, already well occupied, without an established reputation. It is easy to
assert that the Waterbury watch could have been at that time both improved in
quality and reduced in price and made a commercial success. All we know is
that eight years later the Waterbury Clock Company made the attempt and won.
It has often been thought that the company's change of name was unfor-
tunate. In 191 3 the receivers considered the question of re-assuming it on the
theory that after the lapse of more than twenty years it would be an asset as
a trademark. The same idea was suggested to Charles H. Ingersoll after his
purchase of the factory and resulted in one of the new products being christened
the Ingersoll-Waterbury.
THE LUX CLOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Paul Lux started the Lux Clock Company in a small shop on East Farms
Street in March, 1914. In 191 5 it had outgrown its quarters and moved into a
large loft in Printers' Court. In January, 1917, it was incorporated as The Lux
Clock Manufacturing Company with a capital of $50,000 and took larger quarters
at 21 Harrison Street. Its officers are: President, Paul Lux; vice president,
Michael Keeley; secretary, A. H. Hauser; assistant secretary, Herman Lux;
assistant treasurer, Frederick Lux. The company manufactures clock move-
ments.
THE PIN COMPANIES
It was in what may be called the segregation of its industries and in the
development as separate organizations of what were to begin with branches of
parent branches, that much of the great success of Waterbury manufactures
lies.
The pin industry is the earliest and most striking illustration of this. This
began in Waterbury originally as a branch of the Benedict & Burnham Manu-
facturing Company, and became a distinct organization in 1846, as the Ameri-
can Pin Company. The invention by Chauncey O. Crosby of a machine for stick-
ing pins on paper led to the formation in 1852 of the Oakville Company. The
contest over the Crosby patent, which was claimed to be an infringement of the
American Pin Company's "goose neck" patent device for sticking pins, was the
228 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
foundation of the Oakville Company's success. In this the courts upheld the
Oakville Company. After this controversy, the two companies developed along
thoroughly harmonious lines.
The American Pin Company was incorporated in November, 1846, and the
incorporators were Adam Benedict, G. W. Burnham, Henry Bronson, J. S.
Mitchell, Jr., Bennett Bronson, Charles Benedict, Benjamin DeForest, John
DeForest, J. C. Booth, A. W. Welton, D. F. Maltby, Philo Brown, J. P. Elton,
Ambrose Ives, James Brown, P. W. Carter and S. B. Minor. The American Pin
Company was organized with a capital stock of $50,000. The business was a
feeder for the wire mills.
Nelson Hall became the secretary, treasurer and manager of the business in
January, 1847, an d continued as manager until Theodore I. Briggs became
treasurer on the 24th of January, 1865. On the 24th of December, 1866, he was
made secretary and treasurer and was made president and treasurer on January
24, 1888, while George A. Driggs succeeded to the position of secretary. Theodore
I. Driggs continued in the presidency until June 28, 1893, when A. M. Blakesley
was elected his successor and continued from January 30, 1894, until his death
in October, 1908, when George A. Driggs became president and treasurer. He
had previously been secretary and treasurer for fifteen years and upon his elec-
tion to the presidency W. R. Willetts was elected secretary, continuing until
February 6, 1913, when he in turn was succeeded by W. W. Bowers.
It was a considerable period after the organization of the company before
the president became an active factor in the management of the business, and
the first president after the incorporation in 1846 was Philo Brown. The presi-
dents of Holmes, Booth & Haydens, of the Waterbury Brass Company, of the
Brown Company and of the Benedict and Burnham Company served in turn but
were not active in control of the business until Theodore I. Driggs became presi-
dent on the 24th of January, 1888. On the 6th of February, 1913, Fred E. Bart-
lett became vice president, with H. B. Jenkins as assistant secretary. On the 2d
of February, 1914, the same officers were chosen save that T. I. Driggs was
elected assistant treasurer. On the 2d of February, 191 6, Gordon W. Burnham
became a director, together with John P. Elton, H. B. Jenkins, T. I. Driggs, Geo.
A. Driggs, Harris Whittemore, F. E. Bartlett. W. W. Bowers and John
Booth Burrall. In February, 1916, T. I. Driggs was elected general manager as
well as assistant treasurer.
The business was originally located on East Main Street, where the Poli
Theater now stands, but was removed in 1894 to Waterville in order to secure
more room. In 1890 the company was doing a business of about one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars per annum. Today the business of the corporation
amounts to $3,000,000 per annum.
The plant covers 50 acres of ground, and the factory comprises 7 buildings,
4 stories in height with basement. One building is 250 by 50 feet, another 160 by
60 feet, a third 150 by 35 feet, a fourth 33 by 40 feet, and a fifth 60 by 150 feet.
There is also a 1 -story building 80 by 100 feet and another 80 by 150 feet. They
employ 900 people, 35 per cent of whom are skilled operatives. Forty per cent
of the employes are women.
The company manufactures notions and brass goods, safety pins and hooks
and eyes. The plant is operated by steam and electric power. Automatic
processes have been developed and the output, under the name of the American
Pin Company, is sold all over the world.
Its construction work for the past seventeen years is the best evidence of its
vast growth.
BENEDICT & BURXHAM MANUFACTURING COMPANY, WATERBURY
PLANT OF THE WATERBURY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 229
In 1900 it erected the 4-story central factory, 40 by 192, at a cost of $25,000.
In 1902 it added the 4-story brick factory, 40 by 36, at a cost of $23,000. in
1903 the new foundry building, i-story brick, 60 by 62, was put up in Water-
ville at a cost of $15,000. In 1904 the casting shop, 62 by 120, was added to the
Waterville plant. This was followed in 1905 with a 2-story brick addition 53
by 162 and in 190O with the large 4-story brick, 53 by 257, and the wing, 18 by
23, which was put up at a cost of $62,000. In 1909 and 1910 the 2-story brick
buildings, 15 by 23 and 18 by 23, were added to the plant. In 1915 it further
iucreased its working plant by a 1 -story brick building containing 8,858 square
feet.
The Oakville Company, organized in 1852 by Greene Kendrick with a capital
stock of 853,000, has grown to be one of the largest organizations of its kind in
the country.
From the start of a few low buildings, the growth has been very satisfactory,
as the plant now consists of several brick buildings, ranging from one to five
stories in height. The various departments are equipped with the latest and most
approved automatic wire machines, and all needed appliances operated by either
steam, electricity or water, and lighted by electricity supplied by the companv's
own electric plant.
Its construction work has kept pace with the growth of its business. In 1900
two additions of brick, one 4 stories, 40 by 45, and the other 2 stories, 35 by 65,
were put up. In 1905 the 4-story brick, 32 by 92, and a i-story brick, 18 by 81,
were added. In 1907 and 1908 the two 4-story brick buildings, 38 by 200, and
40 by 200, were added, thus giving them most of the present large frontage on
the main road. In 1909 and 1910 the 5-story brick building, 30 by 251, was added,
and in 1916 the latest 5-story was put up, the most modern of all the equipment.
It now employs about one thousand hands, of whom 40 per cent are women.
It has done some fine work in the way of securing improved housing condi-
tions for its employes and has built model homes, both for workmen and clerical
help. Ten of these smaller homes are now under construction.
Elisha Leavenworth succeeded to the presidency on the death of Joseph C.
Welton in 1874. His successor was E. C. Lewis, who was succeeded by J. Hobart
Bronson, who still occupies that position. Mr. Bronson succeeded Nathaniel
H. Perry as secretary and general manager in 1877, becoming president on Novem-
ber 18, 1 90 1. At that time Walter Place was secretary and the directors were J. H.
Bronson, Elisha Leavenworth, J. S. Elton, H. S. Chase and J. A. Smith.
The present directors are : H. S. Chase, W. E. Fulton, J. R. Smith, Truman
S. Lewis, George Boden, J. Hobart Bronson. Its present officers are : J. Hobart
Bronson, president and treasurer; vice president, Henry S. Chase; assistant
treasurer, Bennett Bronson; secretary, George Boden.
Its capitalization is $600,000.
In 1909 there were employed in the United States 4,976 hands in the pin,
needle and hook and eye business of the country. Waterbury and Torrington
together are credited with nearly half of these employes. The proportion has not
been reduced since that time. The three concerns in Waterbury, the American
Pin Company, the Oakwell Company and Plume & Atwood, manufacture con-
servatively estimated, one-half of all the pins and safety pins made in the United
States, fully as large, if not an even larger percentage, of hooks and eyes and
some needles. Needles are also made at Torrington in the Naugatuck Valley.
CHAPTER XIX
MACHINE SHOPS AND FOUNDRIES
THE WATERBURY FARREL FOUNDRY & MACHINE COMPANY THE WATERBURY
MACHINE COMPANY — THE E. J. MANVILLE MACHINE COMPANY THE BLAKE &
JOHNSON COMPANY — THE WATERBURY TOOL COMPANY — THE LUDINGTON CIG-
ARETTE MACHINE COMPANY — THE ROWBOTTOM MACHINE COMPANY — -ANDREW
C. CAMPBELL, INC. HENDERSON BROTHERS SEYMOUR SMITH & SON THE
MANUFACTURERS FOUNDRY COMPANY THE WATERBURY CASTINGS COMPANY
THE METAL SPECIALTIES COMPANY THE ATLAS MACHINE COMPANY — WATER-
BURY STANDARD TOOL AND MACHINE COMPANY WATERBURY PRESSED METAL
AND TOOL COMPANY.
The plant of the present Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Company
was started in 1851, and in 1857 was conducted in connection with the Ansonia
Foundry under the name of the Farrel Foundry & Machine Company, and so
continued until 1880. when the Farrels sold out. In the latter year the present
company was organized as the Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Company,
with E. C. Lewis as president, Wm. E. Fulton as secretary, and George B. Lam-
har as superintendent.
The men at the head of affairs have been with the company for many years.
William E. Fulton is president, David C. Griggs secretary and William S. Fulton
is treasurer. Its capital is $440,000.
It has constructed eleven factory buildings on its present site since 1900. In
1 001 a four story brick factory building 48 by 196 was erected. In 1902 the three
story brick and steel factory 47 by 194 was put up. It has built additions nearly
every year, those in the period from! 1915 to 1917 summing up approximately
$150,000.
The Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Company designs and builds rolling
mill machinery, for brass, copper, and German silver, brass tube and wire
machinery, hydraulic presses, power presses, drop presses, foot presses, cartridge
and special machinery, and rivet machines for making automatically rivets, bolts
and screw blanks.
In the two plants it now employs about eight hundred hands.
Edward C. Lewis, formerly president of the Waterbury Farrel Foundry &
Machine Company, was one of the best known manufacturers in this section. He
came to Waterbury in the early '50s to manage the branch of what was then
known as the Ansonia Farrel Foundry & Machine Company. He died October
24, 1901. and at that time was a director in the Dime Savings Bank, one of the
original projectors of the Manufacturers Bank, president of the Oakville Com-
pany, a director in the Benedict & Burnham Company, the Plume & Atwood Com-
pany and the Holmes, Booth & Haydens Company.
THE WATERBURY MACHINE COMPANY
The Waterbury Machine Company, reorganized in 1885, capital $60,000, was
originally located in Oakville, and was moved to Waterbury in 1891. In 1893
230
W'ATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 231
its officers were William E. Fulton, president; George B. Lamb, treasurer; R. S.
YVotkyns, secretary. In 1911 it was taken over as an adjunct corporation of the
Waterbury Farrel Foundry & .Machine Company, the plants being- operated under
one management and with identical outputs. It has, however, still a separate cor-
porate organization. At present on its old site the two companies are putting up
a large extension with a two story front on Bank Street, and a one story build-
ing on .Meadow Street. Its capital remains at $(K),000.
Its officers at present are: President, William E. Fulton; secretary, William
1). Pierson ; treasurer, William S. Fulton.
The company manufactures automatic machines of great ingenuity, such as
automatic machinery for making hinges and butts. The machines for making
screw blanks and nut blanks are particularly complete and show the advance that
has been made in the way of automatic devices.
THE E. J. MANVILLE MACHINE COMPANY
The E. J. Manville Machine Company was established by Eli J. Manville Sep-
tember 15, 1878. He invented various machines, of which the best known are
the planer and shaper called the ''Hendey," the cold reducing machine to reduce
the size of wire, which brought into existence the Excelsior Needle Company of
Torrington, and the safety pin machine, the building of which was the starting
point of the E. J. Manville Machine Company. Mr. Manville was the president
of the company until his death in 1886.
On October 6, 1886, the concern was incorporated, capital $25,000, with E. J.
Manville as president, which position he held only twenty- four days; R. C. Man-
ville, treasurer; W. W. Manville, secretary, and F. B. Manville, F. J. Manville
and G. H. Manville, directors.
In 1896 the Manvilles sold out and Martin H. Brennan became president and
manager, with D. T. Hart as treasurer. Charles T. Brennan is now secretary
and superintendent. Its capital now is $100,000.
The company is now extensively engaged in making direct-acting, double
stroke, solid die cold heading and bolt machines, the bolt head trimming machines,
thread rolling machines and the automatic Duplex belt-cutting machine. The
Manville Company designed all the automatic machinery for the Ford Automo-
bile Company.
The original factory was on Benedict Street. The company removed to Meadow
Street in 1886, and in 1904 to the present location, where they have a frontage of
300 feet on. East Main Street, with a depth of 325 feet. The buildings are in
part j'j stories in height and partially of sawtooth construction. The factory
has about two acres of floor space, and employs 300 people, mostly skilled
machinists. .
In 1904 the Manville Company put up five of its factory buildings. Extensions
were made in 19 10 and H)\-\. Additional construction work is now going on.
Tilt: BLAKE & JOHNSON COMPANY
Blake & Johnson, which was organized on February 17, 1852, with a capital of
$8,000. is one of the historic industrial concerns of the city, with an unbroken
record of success. In 1894 it was located on East Main Street and its officers
were : President and treasurer, Orville H. Stevens ; secretary, R. R. Stannard.
On November 17, 1894. Mr. Stevens died and James S. Elton succeeded to the
232 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
presidency and Mr. Stannard to the treasurership. The directors were then F. J.
Kingsbury, James S. Elton, C. N. Wayland, and R. R. Stannard.
In 1898 Franklin A. Taylor became secretary, remaining until October 10,
1899, when he resigned to join the Randoph & Clowes forces, Robert P. Lewis
succeeding him. In 1899 Mr. Stannard succeeded to the presidency, which posi-
tion he held until his death, January 4, 1906. John P. Elton succeeded to the
presidency, which position he still holds. In 1914 Lancaster P. Clark was made
secretary and general manager. In January, 1917, Charles E. Stevens, son of
its former president, became secretary, which position he still holds. Mr. Clark
is now treasurer and general manager.
On May 3, 1906, Blake & Johnson changed its name to The Blake & Johnson
Company. On January 30, 1908, its capital was increased to $120,000. On
February 3, 19 14, it was again increased to $200,000.
The company operates two plants. Its manufacturing division is located at
1495 Thomaston Avenue, where its output is rivets, screws, studs, nuts, wire
forms, cotter pins, screw machine products, piano, organ and player hardware,
and specialties from wire and rod.
In its machinery division at 173 North Elm Street it makes threaders for roll-
ing threads, headers for making rivets, presses, grinders, slitters and formers for
wire forming.
It employs about four hundred hands.
The Blake & Johnson Company erected its new plant at Waterville in 1909.
This consists of a factory building of brick and concrete construction, 200 by 260
feet in size, one story with basement, and a power plant, also of brick and con-
crete, one story and basement 50 by 80 feet in size; cost $150,000.
It built a two story addition in 1914 and is at present making still further
improvements.
THE WATERBURY TOOL COMPANY
The Waterbury Tool Company was incorporated in September, 1898, by
Horace G. Hoadley, who has been its president and treasurer since that time. Its
capital is $280,000. It began building the Universal ratchet drill invented by
Prof. Harvey D. Williams of Cornell. This was perfected by Reynold Janney,
who has been vice president and chief engineer of the company since 1904. Its
hydraulic machines for transmitting power at variable speeds are now used for
turret turning, gun-elevating, shell hoists and powder hoists, rammers, main
steering gear, and to control submarine diving rudders.
This business was started on the top floor of the factory of the New Britain
Machine Company in that city. Later the present site on East Aurora Street,
Waterbury, was bought and a large factory was built. The main building is 120
by 212 feet, and one of the best equipped structures in the country.
The company has built for rental to its employes nine one- family frame
houses on the part of its 10-acre shop site most distant from the present machine
shop. A 40-foot street has been laid out and the houses built on both sides of it.
They are of five dissimilar types so that the group does not have the appearance
of factory houses. They are of five and six rooms, on lots 50 by 120 feet, and
have city water, bathrooms, hot-air furnaces, electric light and arrangements for
sewage disposal by means of septic tanks. The company has also built, for rental
to foremen, on lots 60 by 140 feet, within fifteen minutes' walk of the shop, two
twin houses with modern improvements.
The officials of the Waterbury Tool Company are Horace G. Hoadley, presi-
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 233
dent and treasurer ; Reynold Janney, vice president and chief engineer ; Charles
P. Haight, secretary and assistant treasurer, and William S. Wilkinson, superin-
tendent.
THE LUDINGTON CIGARETTE MACHINE COMPANY
The Ludington Cigarette Machine Company was incorporated for $50,000 in
1909. Its first officers were Frank J. Ludington, president; F. E. Ludington, vice
president, and V. M. Shaw, secretary. The death of F. J. Ludington occurred
in the year of the company's organization and his nephew, F. W. Ludington, suc-
ceeded. At present the officers are F. W. Ludington, president; F. C. Cannon,
vice president, and F. E. Ludington, secretary and treasurer.
The company manufactures cigarette and tobacco machinery, the basic inven-
tions being the creations of its founder, Frank J. Ludington. These proved epoch-
making and profitable and the business he created, though at first small, expanded
rapidly and was eventually incorporated shortly before his death. From 1907
the company occupied first two and later three floors in the T. F. Jackson loft
building on Printers' Court, now the Republican Building, but by November, 1917,
it had outgrown these quarters and announced its intention of erecting a plant on
the Watertown Road, next to the New Haven Dairy Company, to consist of one
long two story and basement factory building.
On January 31, 1917, the company's capital was increased to $350,000.
THE ROWBOTTOM MACHINE COMPANY
The Rowbottom Machine Company was organized June 1, 1902, capital
$10,000. Its first officers were George Rowbottom, president; W. A. Robbins,
vice president, and Hugh A. Pendlebury, secretary and treasurer. It started in
a little wooden building as manufacturers of special automatic machinery. In
1903 it bought a small piece of ground and built a small brick factory. In 1905
it built the first large addition, following it in 191 1 with another addition. In
1912 it purchased the business of the Manville Bros. Company, machinery build-
ers. Tn 191 5 the company more than doubled all its space, and now has 19,500
square feet of floor space in mill construction buildings. The company owns three
acres of ground, and a plant equipped with electric power, individual motors and
sprinkler system. It employs about seventy-five skilled mechanics.
It has developed automatic machinery of various kinds, including one of the
first successful machines for making high grade cigarettes, with a capacity of 450
per minute, a machine for sewing hooks and eyes on cards, turning out three cards
of two dozen hooks and eyes per minute ; also tube forming machinery, box
machinery, disc grinding machinery, automatic button machinery, and tube bend-
ing machinery. It now builds and sells a universal coin milling machine which
will mill any style of coin. The company does a large business for the trade in
milling coins, medals, etc., and their business in this particular covers the two
Americas.
ANDREW C. CAMPP.ELL, [INCORPORATED
Andrew C. Campbell, Inc., was chartered in 1912, with a capital of $50,000.
The following are the officers : President, Andrew C. Campbell ; secretary, W.
Wheeler; Treasurer, Walter 15. Lasher, of liridgeport.
234 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Mr. Campbell has designed some of the most successfully operated machines
in America and in 191 2 opened his own plant to manufacture his latest machinery
for the lightning manufacture of the cotter pin a split pin used very extensively,
especially in the making of automobiles.
In 1 91 6 the American Chain Company of Bridgeport, makers of the Weed
tire chain, needing Mr. Campbell's services, purchased the plant, but operates it
under the former corporation name. It has recently purchased two adjoining
lots, and will at once extend the factory erected in 1913 by Mr. Campbell. Mr.
Campbell is now designing some of the machinery needed in the emergency fleet
equipment works of the American Chain Company's plant at Norfolk, Va. The
output of cotter pins at the Waterbury plant is nearly a million daily. Sixty men
are employed.
Mr. Campbell has been a very prolific inventor, having taken out thirty-six
patents from 1880 to 1912.
The DeLong Company of Philadelphia contracted with the E. J. Manville
Machine Company for twenty-two machines to turn out their hooks at higher
speed. Their last machine was designed by Andrew C. Campbell and turned out
240 "see that hump" hooks per minute. The model or first machine was run at
300 hooks per minute and was the fastest machine of the kind in the world.
The adjustable treadle, made by the Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Com-
pany for its presses was the invention of A. C. Campbell and is still put out with
the firm's presses.
The machine put out by the E. J. Manville Machine Company for a special
assembling operation on shoe shanks was a Campbell invention. The E. J. Man-
ville Machine Company's double stroke header, which has been the biggest kind
of a money-maker and time saver, was also a Campbell invention. The same firm
also made the machine designed by Campbell for making bicycle nipples. After
an infringement fight in which the Manville Company won out, this patent was
sold to the Excelsior Needle Company of Torrington. The Manville success with
screw slotting machines began with the machines designed by Mr. Campbell.
Andrew C. Campbell also designed for John Granger of Philadelphia the
machine to make the "Granger" dress hook. It is able to turn out the hooks at
the rate of 150 per minute.
The ball heading machines which turns out 125 balls per minute were designed
by Campbell, and are in use all over the country.
HENDERSON BROTHERS
Henderson Brothers, machinists, organized in 1880 with John and Alexander
Henderson as firm members. Ten years later the business was reorganized under
the name of Henderson & Baird Company, with John Henderson, Thomas Hen-
derson and Joseph H. Baird as incorporators, and with a capital of $20,000. In
1884, it removed to 133 South Leonard Street, where the company has two build-
ings, one of which is two stories in height and the other one story. With the
withdrawal of Mr. Baird partnership relations were resumed. The company is
now engaged in the manufacture of patent elevators and tumbling barrels, the
latter being the invention of John Henderson. About twenty people are employed.
THE SEYMOUR SMITH & SON, INCORPORATED
The Seymour Smith & Son (Inc.) of Oakville was incorporated December
31, 191 2, capital $25,000, succeeding Seymour Smith & Son, established in 1872.
VVATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 235
Seymour Smith, the founder of the business, had one son, William II., who
became the associate and afterward the successor of his father, continuing the
business of manufacturing pruning implements of various kinds and descriptions
which are largely sent to a foreign field. It employs thirty hands.
The present officers are William II. Smith, president; Ella R. Smith, secre-
tary, and ( ieorge II. Smith, treasurer.
MIK MANUFACTURERS FOUNDRY COMPANY
The Manufacturers Foundry Company was incorporated in January, 1900,
with a capital of $10,000. Its first officers were: President, Henry D. Beach;
secretary and manager, Edward W. Beach ; treasurer, Charles F. Bronson. From
the outset, its special castings for chemical work gave it a reputation throughout
the east. It is now making exclusively high grade motor cylinder castings for
autos and aeroplanes.
In [90*5 its capital had been increased to $50,000 and its officers were: George
\V. Beach, president; Edward W. Beach, secretary and treasurer; F. C. Fromm,
assistant treasurer. In the following year Air. Fromm became treasurer.
In 1908 the capital was increased to $100,000, and in 1909 the officers were:
S. E. Hopkins, president; secretary, Edward W. Beach; treasurer, F. C. Fromm.
The capital of the company in 1917 is $200,000, and its officers are: Presi-
dent, S. E. Hopkins ; vice president, E. W. Beach ; secretary and treasurer, F. C.
Fromm.
Practically the entire plant has been built in the last twelve years, since it
moved from its location on Benedict Street to its present site on Railroad Hill,
near Eagle Street. It has taken a number of years to develop the grade of gray
iron castings now made exclusively by the company.
In 1904 it erected two two-story brick buildings, one 80 by 170 and the other
2j by 34. In 1906 two additions were erected. In 1907 and 1908 four steel and
concrete structures were added. In 1909 and 1910 one further addition was
made.
In 1913 and 1914 four of its buildings were put up. Some further additions
were made in 1916 and 191 7.
THE WATERRURY FOUNDRY COMPANY
The Waterbury Foundry Company was incorporated in 1907 with a capital
of $140,000. taking over the business of B. H. Fry & Company and the factory
erected by that firm in 1904. Until his death in 191 1, Benj. H. Fry was presi-
dent of the Waterbury Foundry Company with Arthur A. Tanner, secretary.
The latter succeeded to the position of president and treasurer, which he still
holds. The vice president in 19 17 is John S. Neagle, and the secretary, C. F.
Fiederman.
No large additions have been made to the plant since 1912, although the
capacity of the foundry has been greatly increased by recent important alterations.
THE WATERBURY CASTINGS COMPANY
The Waterbury Castings Company was organized in njoj. J. R. Smith was
president ; P. A. Piatt, vice president; C. S. Bull, treasurer; and George E. Camp,
secretary.
236 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The plant is on Railroad Hill Street and covers four acres. Its capital is
$100,000. It has a one story foundry of mill construction, with 22,000 square
feet of floor space. There are 175 employes, of whom 50 per cent are skilled.
It is a jobbing foundry with a capacity of twenty-five tons of castings daily. The
product is sold in Waterbury and to outside points.
THE METAL SPECIALTIES COMPANY
The Metal Specialties Company was organized June 7, 1912, capital $25,000,
with John W. Potter, president ; Clark Lewis, treasurer ; A. L. Schwartz, secre-
tary and general manager; and Cyrus T. Gray, director.
In October, 1913, Harris W. Langley became secretary, and with the resig-
nation of Mr. Potter, Mr. Gray became president in February, 1914. In April,
1915, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Langley both resigned and H. H. Heminway was
elected treasurer and Charles Bronson secretary. In February, 191 7, Mr. Hemin-
way became secretary and treasurer, while Mr. Gray remains as president.
The company began business at No. 23 Jefferson Street, occupying a part of
a room on the third floor. In 19 15 it took two rooms on the top and on the lower
floor, and on January 1, 1916, began occupying the entire building. On the 1st
of April, 191 7, it moved into its new building on East Aurora Street. This is
120 by 190, with an addition 30 by 40 feet, is of sawtooth mill construction,
equipped with sprinkler system and electric power.
The company manufactures snap buttons, burnishing and bearing balls, special
rivets, metal novelties, selling to jobbers. It employs sixty to seventy-five people.
THE ATLAS MACHINE COMPANY
The Atlas Machine Company was incorporated in March, 1906, with a capital
of $10,000, which in 1910 was increased to $50,000. Its officers are : President
and treasurer, Adam Callan ; secretary, Carlton F. Atwood.
Its output consists largely of metal and wire working machinery.
THE WATERBURY STANDARD TOOL AND MACHINE COMPANY
The Waterbury Standard Tool and Machine Company was incorporated
February 20, 1913, with a capital of $10,000, its officers being Jeremiah W.
Phelps, president and treasurer; John B. Doherty, secretary. It manufactures
automatic machinery of all kinds, but more especially that used for the making
of watch parts, and the output is classed among the most perfect in the country.
The company occupies two floors of its five-story building at 31 Canal Street.
Mr. Phelps has built up a thriving business, as he is looked upon as one of the
watch machinery experts of the country.
THE WATERBURY PRESSED METAL AND TOOL COMPANY
The Waterbury Pressed Metal and Tool Company was incorporated February,
1916, with a capital of $25,000. Its president and treasurer, Alfred L. Schwartz,
was for many years general manager and secretary of the Metal Specialty Com-
pany. The secretary of the new company is Ernest A. Austin. Its output is tool
and machine work and all classes of metal stampings.
CHAPTER XX
OTHER MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS
THE INTERNATIONAL SILVER COMPANY — THE AMERICAN MILLS COMPANY — THE
WATERBURY PAPER BOX COMPANY — THE WHITE & WELLS COMPANY — THE KALB-
FLEISCH CORPORATION — THE WATERBURY BATTERY COMPANY — THE WILLIAMS
SEALING CORPORATION — THE WATERBURY JEWEL COMPANY — THE AUTOYRE COM-
PANY — THE LANE MANUFACTURING COMPANY WATERVILLE CUTLERY COMPANY
— THE MORDEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY — THE H. L. WELCH HOSIERY COM-
PANY — THE WATERBURY INSTRUMENT COMPx\NY THE WATERBURY ICE COR-
PORATION THE SPRING LAKE ICE COMPANY — THE HELLMAN BREWING COM-
PANY — THE EAGLE BREWING COMPANY — FEW MANUFACTURING LOSSES.
The Bristol Company was organized in 1889 as a partnership by \V. H., B. H.
and F. B. Bristol. It was incorporated in 1894 with a capital of $10,000. W. H.
Bristol was the organizer and founder of the business, and with the exception of
a short interval has been president since incorporation. The company began to
manufacture recording steam gauges and steel belt lacing. Business has now
been expanded to cover every kind of recording instrument, covering over two
thousand different uses. The invention of Prof. W. H. Bristol formed the basis
of the Bristol Company's success. He has a record of over one hundred inven-
tions, all of them in the line of recording instruments. His electric pyrometer
is perhaps the most important. Business was begun in a little wooden building in
Platts Mills and since 1894 additions have from time to time been made to the
the present factory until the company now has 175,000 square feet of floor space.
The buildings are from one to six stories in height, nearly all of mill construc-
tion, with sprinkler system.
The company employs over four hundred people, all highly skilled labor. Its
product is sold all over the civilized world. It has branch offices in Boston, New
York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Francisco and agencies in all foreign countries.
At the Panama Exposition in San Francisco the Bristol Company received
the highest possible award on their whole line.
The officers are: W. H. Bristol, president; Harris Whittemore, treasurer;
S. R. Bristol, secretary.
In 1908 E. H., B. B. and B. H. Bristol sold out their interest to the Bristol
Company and moved to Foxboro, Mass., where they established the Foxboro
Company, which is still in business there making recording instruments.
THE INTERNATIONAL SILVER COMPANY
The International Silver Company of New Jersey in 1899 succeeded to both
Rogers & Brother and the Rogers & Hamilton Company, occupying at the present
time the Rogers & Brother plant. The Rogers & Hamilton Company's new plant
on Griggs Street remained vacant until 1907 when it was taken over by the Noera
Company.
237
238 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Rogers & Brother, established in Hartford in 1847, na d removed to Water-
bury in 1858. The Rogers & Hamilton Company was established with a capital
of $50,000 February 14, 1886.
The plant is officially known as International Factory Company, Factory J.,
but passes locally as "the spoon shop." It has been greatly enlarged since the
consolidation and still manufactures the * Rogers & Bro. A-i brand of silver
plated ware. These goods are sold all over the world.
In the Waterbury factory about six hundred hands are employed. The secre-
tary of the International Silver Company, George Rockwell, is general manager
of the Waterbury plant.
Four buildings have been erected since 1907 and further improvements are
now contemplated.
THE AMERICAN MILLS COMPANY
The American Mills Company, which was organized in 1881, was incorporated
on November 19, T909, with a capital of $150,000 and with its present executive,
Archer J. Smith, as president. On July 7, 1914, the business was extended to
include the New Haven Web Company, Hamden, Conn., and the Narrow Fabric
Corporation, New Haven, the capitalization being $1,200,000.
In the Waterbury plant of the company 250 hands are at present employed.
Its officers are : President, Archer J. Smith ; vice president, F. M. Chambers,
of New Haven; secretary, C. B. Twitchell, of New Haven; assistant treasurer,
I. B. Smith. It manufactures narrow elastic and non-elastic fabrics, and its
trade is now worldwide.
Its largest building in the Waterbury plant is just being completed, a two-
story and basement factory addition, 300 feet long. The building is also to con-
tain the offices of the company.
Its newer construction work began in 1904 and in 1910 it put up a large two-
story and basement brick and steel structure, size 64 by 191, and a one-story brick
addition.
THE WATERBURY PAPER BOX COMPANY
For many years the paper box industry has been an important one in Water-
bury, large numbers of the boxes used for perfumery, cutlery, silverware and
toilet articles being manufactured here and shipped to the makers of these articles
elsewhere, as well as druggists' boxes and boxes for the local factories.
The factory of R. E. Hitchcock & Company was one of the old landmarks of
Waterbury industrial life. Situated on Canal Street, it gave employment to over
one hundred people. Mr. Hitchcock was succeeded by his partner and son-in-
law, Arthur C. Northrop, under whose regime the business grew and developed
until some of the finest box work of the country was done in this factory, espe-
cially the fancy boxes used by leading perfumers for putting up their goods. The
property passed into the hands of the present owners in 1901 and received its
present namte, that of the Waterbury Paper Box Company. Since that time it
has doubled itself and now employs about two hundred and fifty hands. Its
capital was $25,000. increased January 27, 1914, to $50,000.
A plot of ground on South Leonard Street was secured, and in 1904 a com-
modious and convenient building, designed especially to meet the needs, was
erected.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 239
One of the departments of the Waterbury Paper Box Company which has
always been a very important one is its printing department, which also occupies
a portion of the office floor. Established in the first place to meet the needs of
the factory itself, in the way of labels, box tops, etc., the work soon grew and
developed until line job printing became a regular feature of the company's work.
In 1913 a 60-foot addition was built, mill construction, giving the company
a 300- foot frontage.
Its goods are sold all over the United States to perfumery, toilet goods and
silverware manufacturers.
Marry 11. Ileminway is president, and William H. Beers, secretary and
treasurer.
THE WHITE & WELLS COMPANY
The White & Wells Company was a partnership until 1895, when the third in
direct descent from the founder of the business, James White, incorporated it
for $50,000. Its officers were : George L. White, president and treasurer ; C. H.
White, vice president ; W. E. Norris, secretary.
The factory at Naugatuck was run in addition to the old plant at 214 Bank-
Street. On December 1, 1914, George L. White, who had inherited the business
from his father, died and was succeeded by his son, William Henry White.
Its secretary is W. E. Treat. The two large factory buildings in Waterbury
are now headquarters for a plant that has well-established branches in Nau-
gatuck, Bridgeport and New Haven. There has been no increase in capitalization.
THE KALBFLEISCH CORPORATION
The Kalbfleisch Corporation of New York, one of the largest manufacturers
of acids and heavy chemicals in the United States, has one of its most important
plants in Waterbury, located on Railroad Hill Street, near Eagle Street, and
employing 120 hands. It began the construction of a local plant in 1904, with a
one-story brick factory 50 by 185. This has been enlarged from year to year,
with further improvements now in progress. Seven buildings with a total front-
age of nearly 800 feet comprise the plant today.
The local manager is J. A. Garde. The officers of the New York company
are: President, F. H. Kalbfleisch; vice president, R. S. Perry; treasurer, A. B.
Savage ; secretary, Richard Sheldrick, all of New York.
Until May, 191 7, it was known as the Franklin H. Kalbfleisch Company.
At that time it was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey as the Kalbfleisch
Corporation.
It manufactures sulphuric, muriatic and nitric acids, all chemicals used by
silk, cotton and wool manufacturers in dyes, replacing much of that nature for-
merly imported from Germany.
WATERBURY BATTERY COMPANY
The Waterbury Battery Company was incorporated in 1899 with a capital
of $125,000, to manufacture opened and closed circuit batteries and to handle
battery zincs and battery materials. Its president and treasurer has been and
is Charles B. Schoenmehl. Its vice president and general manager is E. E.
Hudson, and its secretary and factory manager is M. L. Mattus. At present the
company employs about a hundred hands.
240 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Its first new building was erected in 1904, and in 19 10 and 1914 the larger
structures were added.
THE WILLIAMS SEALING CORPORATION
The Williams Sealing Corporation was organized October 19, 1909, with
John H. Goss, president; N. R. Bronson, vice president; George A. Williams,
treasurer and general manager; Charles D. Nye, secretary; J. E. Tackaberry,
assistant secretary and treasurer. Its capital is $150,000. It is located at No. 37
Benedict Street, where it has a frontage of 160 feet, and a depth of 120 feet.
It occupies two buildings three stories in height, one of which is of mill
construction.
The company manufactures "Kork-N-Seal" bottle caps. These are sold to
manufacturers of food products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, mineral waters,
wines, liquors, patent medicines, fruit juices, and other liquids. It also makes
automatic machinery for applying the caps to the bottles, but the cap can be
applied without the use of the machine.
The output is sold largely to big manufacturers. The article is being adopted
by such firms as the Parke-Davis Company of Detroit, the Standard Oil Company,
Scott & Bowne, manufacturers of Scott's Emulsion, and the R. L. Watkins
Company of Cleveland. The plant employs 125 people.
THE WATERBURY JEWEL COMPANY
The Waterbury Jewel Company was established February 8, 1911-, with
E. M. Grilley and F. G. Neuberth as partners. It was incorporated February 18,
1915, with F. G. Neuberth as president; H. M. Werner, secretary; E. M. Grilley,
vice president, treasurer and manager. Its capital is $25,000. With the with-
drawal of Mr. Werner, R. F. Neuberth became secretary.
The business was started on Burrall Court, and now occupies the two upper
floors of the Standard Tool and Machine Company Building at 31 Canal Street.
It manufactures all kinds of small instrument jewels and talking machine playing
points. The product represents a high grade of mechanical skill, work being
based on processes devised by Mr. Grilley. It employs sixty hands.
SMALL-WIRE DRAWING
The Standard Wire Die Company was organized and incorporated in 1914.
Its officers were and are Frederick Quigley, president; Irving Spies, vice presi-
dent; J. P. Wall, secretary, and H. W. Quigley, treasurer. The company manu-
factures dies for drawing wire. It makes diamond-wire-drawing dies and
diamond tools of all descriptions. They manufacture diamond dies for gauges
as low as .0005 of an inch in diameter, and up to one-sixteenth of an inch in
diameter. The product includes diamond tools of all shapes for turning hardened
steel pinions, rubber, fiber, etc., and diamond drills for drilling glass, eyeglasses,
etc. There are only five concerns in this line in the United States.
The company employs twenty high grade mechanics. It has factories in
New York, Worcester, and Waterbury.
George Hartley succeeded his father in the manufacture of small steel wire
from which hair springs for watches are fabricated. He has built the business up
to a commanding position in the trade. In 1915 and 1916 a factory 40 by 40 feet
was erected.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 241
The Hartley Wire Die Company is owned by William M. Hartley, son of
George Hartley, and manufactures diamond wire dies of small sizes. It was
registered in July, 191 7.
Harris Hayden has been for thirty years one of Waterbury's famous diamond
die sinkers and is still in business, occupying part of the George Hartley plant.
THE AUTOYRE COMPANY
The Autoyre Company was organized in June. 1912, for $200,000, with J. H.
Cowles, president; F. M. Peasley, vice president; R. C. Stewart, secretary and
treasurer. Its factory is at Main and Oakville streets, in the buildings formerly
occupied by the Baird Machine Company, now of Stratford, where it manufac-
tures a general line of wire goods, corkscrews, bottle openers, wire loops, fruit
jar trimmings, dress fasteners, having automatic machines for all these processes.
It employs 150 people.
THE LANE MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Lane Manufacturing Company w r as founded in 1850 by Merritt Lane,
who had been in the button business with Rufus E. Hitchcock prior to that date.
In 1867 Spencer B. Lane, a brother, became manager. In 1894 its officers were:
E. D. Steele, president; Spencer B. Lane, treasurer, and H. B. Lane, secretary.
The factory at 50 Elm Street has been occupied continuously since 1873. Merritt
Lane died in 1888. In 1896 Spencer B. Lane became president of the company
and remained in the position until his death in 1907. The officers now are:
President and treasurer, Henry B. Lane: secretary, Charles B. Guernsey.
The company makes metal buttons, buckles and snap fasteners. At present
its entire output is snap fasteners.
THE WATERVTLLE CUTLERY COMPANY
The Waterville Cutlery Company, founded in 1890 with a capital of $25,000,
was built up to a commanding position in the line of cutlery manufacture by its
president and treasurer, W. Sumner Babcock. In 1903, after his death, his
attorney, N. R. Bronson, became temporary president of the company and in
1904 disposed of it to George J. Babcock, a brother of the former president. In
1913 the Superior Court on application of Mr. Babcock appointed Lawrence L.
Lewis receiver with orders to dispose of the property. The order of the court
approving the sale and discharging the receiver was recorded October 10, 191 3.
THE MORDEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Early in 1904 Miss L. M. Morden, a stenographer, secured a patent on a
"loose-leaf" metal ring and in August of that year incorporated the Morden
Manufacturing Company with a capital of $40,000. She has since patented other
loose-leaf devices and her plant occupies a large loft at 141 Waterville Street.
-It turns out these devices in great quantities. Miss Morden is the only woman
in active executive work along manufacturing lines in Waterbury. The officers
of the company in 1917 are: President and treasurer. Miss L. M. Morden; vice
president, B. F. Morden; secretary, A. E. McDonald.
Vol. 1—16
242 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
THE H. L. WELCH HOSIERY COMPANY
Henry L. Welch in 1870 started the business which in 1890 he incorporated
as the H. L. Welch Hosiery Company with a capital of $80,000. In 1895, on the
death of Mr. Welch, his interest went to his daughter, Mrs. F. Samson of Hart-
ford, and to her children. It was doing a big business in fine knit underwear
and under the management of Frank B. Buck grew so that its Waterville building
was enlarged.
In 1914, at the beginning of the war period, many of its best hands left it to
go into munition-making lines and the business began to drop off. The buildings
were disposed of in 1916, the realty going to John W. Hard, who is the purchasing
agent for the Chase interests. All the machinery and stock were sold to other
concerns in this line of manufacture. In September, 19 17, the papers dissolving
the corporation were filed with the secretary of state.
THE WATERBURY INSTRUMENT COMPANY
The Waterbury Instrument Company was incorporated in 191 5 for $25,000
and until 191 7 its work was done in the plant of the Waterbury Jewel Company.
This year it was established as a separate concern and is now busy perfecting
its reproducer for talking machines. Its product is not yet on the market. The
officers are: President, C. H. W. Newton; secretary, Henry M. Werner; treas-
urer, Joseph Wilhelm.
THE WATERBURY ICE CORPORATION
The Waterbury Ice Corporation was organized in 1902 with a capital of
$15,000. Its first officers were Charles R. Vaill, president, and Charles B. Everett,
secretary and treasurer. It was located on Brook Street until 191 5, and is now
at 74 Watertown Avenue, where it has 500 feet frontage on the avenue with
an average depth of 60 feet. With a spur track from the trolley line, it
easily handles and stores the ice it cuts at Lake Quassaug. The plant has a
capacity of 150 tons, with storage at the lake for 8,000 tons. The company uses
twenty teams in warm weather for delivery, employing eighty people in the
summer season. The company does 75 per cent of the ice business in Waterbury.
THE SPRING LAKE ICE COMPANY
The Spring Lake Ice Company has two large ice houses in Reedville, and is
owned by George E. Storm. It furnishes over 20 per cent of the ice supply of
Waterbury.
THE HELLMAN BREWING COMPANY
The Hellman Brewing Company, one of the three largest breweries in the
state, was established in 1878 by Frederick Nuhn in a small building on its
present site. In 1881 Martin Hellman and Michael Kipp bought the plant and
erected the present main building, 5^2 stories high with a tower, used
now for malt bins. In 1895 the business was enlarged by the addition of an ale
plant and a two-story brick stable. The ale plant is three stories in height, 40
by 40. In 1901 the Hygeia ice plant was built. In 1916 storage cellars were added
and this year a large addition is being built to the wash house.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY' 243
Martin Hellman, who had bought out his partner in 1889, died in 1895, and
his widow. Mrs. Martin Hellman, incorporated the business with a capital of
$50,000. The original officers were: President, Mrs. Martin Hellman; vice
president, William Hellman; secretary and treasurer, William 1). Richardson.
In [902 William Hellman died and his brother, Charles M. Hellman, took his
place on the board. Mr. Richardson died in [914. The present officers are:
President, Mrs. Martin Hellman; secretary and treasurer, Charles M. Hellman.
In 1901 the plant of the Ilygeia Ice Company, part of the Hellman brewery,
was built at 1095 Rank Street. It is equipped to manufacture ice from distilled
water by what is known as the can system — that is, freezing the water in cans.
It is sold only at wholesale and the greater part of its daily 60-ton output is bought
by the Waterbury Ice Corporation.
Till-; EAGLE BREWING COMPANY
The Eagle Brewery was established in 1901 by Thomas Finnegan and Paul
Suese. In 1902 it was taken over by Thomas H. Hayes and Mr. Finnegan and
incorporated in July, 1903, for $25,000, with Thomas H. Hayes as president, and
Thomas Finnegan, secretary. The present four-story main building, 150 by 80,
was erected in 1902 and is used for the manufacture of ale, lager and porter.
The brewery's capacity today is from 80,000 to 100,000 barrels a year.
Thomas H. Hayes died April 11, 1913, and he was succeeded in the presidency
by his widow, Mrs. Thomas H. Hayes, who still holds that position. In 191 7 a
modern bottling shop, 100 by 50, was erected.
Its officers today are: President, Mrs. Thomas H. Hayes; vice president.
Thomas Finnegan; treasurer, Thomas E. Guest; assistant treasurer, Daniel J.
Leary ; secretary, Michael T. Hayes.
FEW MANUFACTURING LOSSES
The record of industrial growth of the past quarter century has been marked
by few removals of manufacturing plants. The additions, as the history shows,
have been extensive.
The Raird Machine Company, which was incorporated in July, 1894, moved
its plant to Waterbury in 1900. At that time its president was J. H. Raird and
its secretary John M. Hopkins. It remained here until 1912, erecting a factory
in 1907 and 1908. In 191 1 it decided to move to Stratford, where it is now-
located. It makes automatic machinery.
The Manville Rrothers Company was organized in 1897 an -d incorporated
by R. C, W. W. and G. H. Manville. The firm manufactured automatic
machinery along lines similar to the output at present of the Rowbottom Machine
Company, to whom the business was finally sold in 1912. In 1902 George H.
Manville withdrew from the firm and organized the G. H. Manville Pattern and
Model Company, which was incorporated in 191 3.
The National Wire Mattress Company incorporated in Connecticut in Febru-
ary, 1902, for $20,000, with R. B. Hill as president and William J. Fielding as
treasurer. Its connections were such that in 1906 it decided to move to New
Rritain, where it is now located and is known as the National Spring Bed
Company.
The Waterbury Crucible Company incorporated in Connecticut in November.
[904, with a capital of $50,000. Its officers were: President, Edgar R. Seidel :
treasurer, Levi S. Tenney of New York; secretary. F. S. Little of New York.
244 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
It was located at Meadow, corner of Benedict Street, where it had a two-story
brick factory, size 51 by j6. In 1910 it decided to remove to Detroit to be nearer
its trade.
The Standard Electric Time Company manufacturers of self-winding clocks,
regulators, electric tower clocks, electric time plants, was located at 23 Jefferson
Street.
The officers of the company were George L. Riggs, president ; J. J. Estabrook,
secretary.
In 1908 when E. H., B. B. and B. H. Bristol moved to Foxboro, Mass., they
made this a part of their new business. It was then repurchased by George L.
Riggs and associates, who moved it to Springfield, where it is now located.
CHAPTER XXI
THE MASONIC ORDER AND OTHER FRATERNITIES
EARLY MASONIC HISTORY — HARMONY AND CONTINENTAL LODGES MASONIC CLUB—
CLARK COMMANDERY — EUREKA CHAPTER, R. A. M. — WATERBURY COUNCIL, NO.
21 — THE WATERBURY MASONIC TEMPLE THE ODD FELLOWS — NOSAHOGAN LODGE
— ENCAMPMENT AND CANTON — DAUGHTERS OF REBEKAH KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS
-B. P. 0. ELKS — KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS — ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS —
UNITED WORKMEN FORESTERS — LOYAL ORDER OF MOOSE — HEPTASOPHS — EAGLES
—RED MEN UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS WOODMEN AND OTHER FRATERNI-
TIES — FRENCH, ITALIAN, SWEDISH AND GERMAN SOCIETIES — LABOR ORGANI-
ZATIONS.
The past twenty years in Waterbury have been remarkable for Masonic
activity and Harmony Lodge has played a very important part in the wonder-
ful growth of Masonry, thus continuing and developing the work begun by
Worshipful Brother Byington and his associate workers and brethren 120 years
ago, when the lodge was founded.
The one hundredth anniversary found the craft enjoying their own quar-
ters in Masonic Temple at 126 Bank Street, but in the disastrous fire which
swept Waterbury February 2, 1902, this temple was totally destroyed. All
property, jewels and furniture therein, except records and jewels in the vault.
were lost.
After the fire, the various Masonic bodies held meetings in St. John's parish
house until a suitable hall could be found. Waterbury was rapidly rebuilt and
arrangements were made for a hall to be laid out on the fourth floor of the
Mullings Building at 95 Bank Street. It soon became apparent that these quar-
ters were not large enough to accommodate the various Masonic bodies. The
need of a new and properly equipped temple was evident to all, and the first
step in this direction was taken in December, 1905. A by-law was then adopted
by both Harmony Lodge, No. 42, and Continental Lodge, No. 76, F. & A. M.,
providing that the trustees of both of said lodges should constitute a joint board
of trustees, to be known as the Masonic Building Fund Trustees, to care for
and invest all funds received for the purpose of purchasing land and erecting
and furnishing a temple thereon. The fund was started by an appropriation of
$1,000 by each of the lodges, and other contributions were made from time
to time.
In 1908 a building committee, representing all bodies, was appointed and in
the early part of the year 191 1 the homestead of Elisha Leavenworth became
available as a possible site for the proposed temple. The executors of Mr.
Leavenworth's will declined to divide the frontage on West Main Street, and
as other parties were ready to purchase, prompt action was necessary. It was
then that Almon C. Judd, Robert P. Lewis, John R. Flughes, Carl Munger and
Albert Schumaker, all members of the craft, and enthusiastic workers for the
new temple, came forward and purchased the entire frontage on West Main
245
246 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Street. These men then offered to convey to the Masonic building committee all
or any part of said land without any advance in price, and the committee finally
secured a site for the new temple at a price of $20,000. This met with instant
approval, the money was raised in part by subscription and the full purchase
price was paid over on July 1, 191 1.
In the same year the members of the Masonic building committee recom-
mended to the several bodies that a corporation without capital stock be formed
under the statute laws of the State of Connecticut by incorporators, representing
all the Masonic bodies of Waterbury, to take charge of the building of the
temple.
In accordance with this and other recommendations, each body appointed three
of its members to act as incorporators, with full power and authority to act with
the incorporators appointed by the other Masonic bodies in this city, in forming
such a corporation. The incorporators met and organized the Waterbury Ma-
sonic Temple Corporation, which erected and maintains this beautiful temple for
the use, benefit and occupancy of the several orders of Masonry, situated within
the Masonic jurisdiction of the Town of Waterbury.
Until 1847 Harmony Lodge was the only Masonic organization in Waterbury,
and until July 1, 1845, there was no other fraternity of any kind. Now, how-
ever, there are within the original territory, five Masonic lodges, three chapters,
a council, a commandery, and a lodge, council and chapter of the Scottish rite.
Continental Lodge, No. 76, was formed in 1869. In the charter of Continental
Lodge are the names of forty-nine brethren, one-half of whom were members
of Harmony Lodge. From its origin 'to the present time Continental Lodge
has enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity and the relations between it and its mother
lodge have been of the most cordial and fraternal character, having made it
possible for many enterprises to be carried out by them together. Among these
might be mentioned the Masonic Board of Relief, the purchase of a burial lot
and the erection of a monument in Riverside Cemetery, and co-operation with
the other Masonic organizations in forming the Waterbury Masonic Temple
Corporation.
There have been seventy-one masters of Harmony Lodge in the 121 years of
its existence, and there are now between fifty and sixty veterans of over thirty
years' standing. Among its early members were eleven men who had served in
the Revolutionary war, and from that time on, it has been represented in every
war in which this country has engaged. There were four men in the war of
1812, two in the Mexican war, thirty in the Civil war, two in the Spanish war,
and at least eighteen have answered the call of their country in the present emer-
gency.
Many of its members have filled high places in state and national govern-
ments. Among these are George L. Lilley, governor of Connecticut and member
of Congress; Stephen W. Kellogg, member of Congress for three terms; Joel
Hinman, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Errors of the State of Connecticut ;
Charles E. Turner, United States consul-general at Ottawa, Canada, and Henry
I. Boughton, Henry F. Fish, George W. Benedict, Aner Bradley. Jr., John Ken-
drick, Philo G. Rockwell, Joseph B. Spencer, George B. Thomas, William E.
Thorns, Francis T. Reeves and John W. Webster were mayors of Waterbury.
Many members have served as state senators and representatives and on various
municipal boards of the city of Waterbury. Many prominent clergymen of various
denominations have been members. Among them Rev. Joseph Anderson, D. D.,
pastor of the First Church in Waterbury for over forty years and a member of
the corporation of Yale University, and Rev. F. D. Buckley, rector of Trinity
Church for twenty-five years.
MASONIC TEMPLE, WEST MAIN STREET, WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 247
In the fraternity itself many of its members have been called to fill high
places of honor and esteem. Randolph B. Chapman was the grand master of the
most worshipful Grand Lodge of Connecticut, John W. Paul was at one time
grand secretary, the Rev. F. D. Buckley, grand chaplain. James Coer was grand
senior deacon at the time of his death. James Callan was grand high priest.
Grand Royal Arch Chapter. Frank H. Trowbridge was the most puissant grand
master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masons in Connecticut. Nathan
Dikeman, John W. Paul, Frederick A. Spencer and Nelson J. Welton were grand
commanders of the Grand Commandery of Connecticut. Nelson J. Welton and
John R. Hughes were thirty-third degree Masons of A. A. S. R.
Both Harmony and Continental Lodges now rank among the largest in the
state. The membership of Harmony Lodge is 527 members, a gain of 65 during
the present year. Continental Lodge has about the same number.
The past masters of Harmony Lodge from 1893 to 1917 were: Ralph L.
Bronson, Harry O. Miller, J. Ward B. Porter, Frederick E. Stanley, James P.
Elliott, Eugene C. Adt, Randolph B. Chapman, Edward E. Bacon, John F. Morden.
Adam Callan, Louis C. Chapman, Frank A. Alden, Walter G. Chapman, Robert
S. Walker, William H. Callan, Frank J. Erbe, Ernest L. Green, Ernest F. Guil-
ford, Irving W. Harrison, James B. Isherwood, Crayton F. Carpenter, Joseph
Wilhelm, Clark H. W. Newton.
The past masters of Continental Lodge from 1893 to 1917 have been: George
E. Tompkins, William M. Cottle, William E. Norris, Hollis B. Bagg, William E.
Brown, Edwin S. Babcock, Everett L. Starr, Frank E. Fenner, Charles M.
Brooks. Jacob Kaiser, Joseph S. Neill, Walter D. Austin, George H. Crane,
George G. Mullings, Edwin K. Diver, Samuel H. Patterson, Otto P. Armbruster,
Louis E. Granger, Marshall F. Kloppenburg, William R. Keaveney, Leon H.
Cummings, Richard S. Wood, Herman M. Turrell, Arthur T. Mayhew.
The present officers of Harmony and Continental lodges follow :
Harmony Lodge: Clark H. W. Newton, worshipful master; George S. Callan,
senior warden; Alfred G. Germain, junior warden ; Irving W. Harrison, treasurer;
John A. McKay, secretary; Leon A. Duley, senior deacon; I. Franklin Story,
junior deacon; Ralph E. Day, senior steward; Frederick J. Willits, Jr., junior
steward; Carlton B. Coe, chaplain; William H. Phillips, marshal; Crayton F. Car-
penter; tyler.
Continental Lodge : Arthur T. Mayhew, worshipful master ; John W. Potter,
senior warden; Arthur A. Bradley, junior warden; Wilbur P. Bryan, treasurer;
Franklin B. Daniels, secretary ; Burton A. Young, senior deacon ; Hubert L. Bas-
sett, junior deacon; Frederick B. Peck, senior steward; James W. Abercrombie,
junior steward; Rev. Charles E. Benedict, chaplain; Ralph T. Benedict, marshal;
Henry H. Peck, tyler.
The Masonic Club, a purely social organization, was organized on January
24, 1895, in the old Masonic Temple, 126 Bank Street. Its first officers were:
President, George F. Hughes; vice presidents, J. W. B. Porter, Harry F. LaForge;
secretary, George C. Curtiss ; treasurer, James W. Cone; board of managers.
Ezra L.' Chapman, James Callan, H. T. Stedman, Wm. E. Norris. Howard G.
Pinney, Jacob Kaiser.
It was active in a social way until 1900 when it went out of existence. Its last
officers were : Dr. T. F. Axtelle, president, and C. H. Rockwood, secretary and
treasurer.
For many years it has been evident to many observers that the interests of
Freemasonry demand the establishment of another lodge in Waterbury and un-
doubtedly the time has come when steps will be taken to bring this about. Both
248 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
lodges are so strong, relations between them so cordial, Masonic work in this
city so plentiful, that it seems a most opportune time to form another lodge, one-
half of the charter members to be drawn from Harmony Lodge and the other
half from Continental Lodge. The movement is well under way and in the hands
of men who have the best interests of Freemasonry at heart.
CLARK COMMANDERY
Clark Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar, constituted May 10, 1866, has
continued its notable work throughout the past quarter century. The annual
observance of Ascension Day is still one of the customs of the commandery.
Services are held in one of the city churches, after which the graves of deceased
knights are decorated with flowers. Its equipment for the rendering of the
ritual is second to none in the jurisdiction. Its membership today is about 290.
The following are the officers for 1917-1918. Marshall F. Kloppenburg, emi-
nent commander; S. McLean Buckingham, generalissimo; Herbert L. Beardsley,
captain general; John L. Scott, prelate; Charles A. Templeton, senior warden;
Robert V. Magee, junior warden; Wilbur P. Bryan, treasurer; George H. Crane,
recorder; James W. Abercrombie, standard bearer; Fenton F. Niver, sword
bearer; Howard F. Moody, warden; Charles W. Hotchkiss, sentinel; Ernest A.
Andersen, third guard; Franklin A. Wells, second guard; Cleaveland D. Wilson,
first guard ; Carl E. Munger, Nelson J. Welton, J. Richard Smith, trustees ; Carl
E. Munger, Nelson J. Welton, Henry H. Peck, trustees Clark Good Will Fund;
Almon C. Judd, commissary; Franklin B. Daniels, drill master; Frederick C.
Marggraff, instructor of ritual and work.
The past commanders of Clark Commandery since 1893 are: Fred A. Spencer,
Alfred J. Shipley, Wm. G. Smith, Elliott E. Candee, George C. Curtiss, J. W. B.
Porter, Carl E. Munger, Fred E. Stanley, W. P. Bryan, John B. Ebbs, Benjamin
L. Coe, Joseph H. Woodward, John R. Hughes, Charles M. Brooks, Frederick C.
Marggraff, Franklin B. Daniels, John L. Scott, Wm. R. Keaveney, Paul Klimpke,
W. L. Babcock, Marshall Kloppenburg.
\
EUREKA CHAPTER, NO. 22, R. A. M.
Eureka Chapter, organized in the town of Oxford, October 12, 1826, removed
to Waterbury November 2, 1847, has now in 1917 a membership of 350. This is
a growth from 216 in 1895. The 1917 officers are as follows: John E. Porzen-
heim. excellent high priest ; Edward W. Johnson, king ; Louis C. Chapman, scribe ;
Wilbur P. Bryan, treasurer; George E. Irion, secretary; Louis E. Granger,
C. of H. ; George J. Munson, P. S. ; Frederick W. Davis, R. A. C. ; I. Franklin
Story, 3 V. ; Harry J. Rider, 2 V. ; Clarence F. McKay, 1 V. ; Charles W. Hotch-
kiss, sentinel ; trustees, Alfred J. Shipley, Carl E. Munger.
The past high priests of Eureka Chapter, from 1893 t0 I 9 I 7» are: James Cal-
lan, Alfred J. Shipley, Eldridge E. Candee, William E. Norris, Elliott E. Candee,
Carl E. Munger, William E. Thorns, Charles M. Brooks, Henry F. Marendaz,
Eugene C. Adt, Joseph S. Neill, Walter C. Bon, Frank E. Beardsley, John J.
Gailey, William E. Brown, Harry A. Richardson, W. L. Babcock, Wm. R. Kea-
veney, Frank Mitchell, Thomas D. Prescott, Roberts G. Hannegan, Harry P.
Sanderson, Alpheus E. Betts, John E. Porzenheim.
WATERBURY COUNCIL, NO. 21, R. & S. M.
Waterbury Council, No. 21, R. & S. M., was constituted March 21, 1853. In
1895 it had a membership of 245. Its roster today is nearly 325. Its present
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 249
officers are: Edward W. Johnson, thrice illustrious master; Crayton F. Carpen-
ter, Rt. 111. D. M. ; Arthur W. Robbins, P. C. & W. ; Wilbur P. Bryan, treasurer ;
George E. Irion, recorder; Louis C. Chapman, C. of G. ; Ralph E. Day, conductor;
William H. Miller, steward; Charles W. Hotchkiss, sentinel; trustees, Alfred J.
Shipley, Carl E. Munger, W. L. Babcock.
The following are the thrice illustrious masters of Waterbury Council from
1893 to 1917; Frank H. Trowbridge, James Callan, R. R. Bird, Fred E. Stanley,
Eugene C. Adt, Joseph S. Neill, Walter H. Ruggles, Walter C. Bon, George C.
Curtiss, Harry J. Beardsley, Charles H. Swenson, Harry A. Richardson, Win. E
Brown, Wm. R. Keaveney, W. L. Babcock, Thomas D. Prescott, Frederick C.
Marggraff, Frank Mitchell, Frederick M. Davis. John E. Porzenheim, Edward
W. Johnson.
Doric Lodge of Perfection, which confers from the fourth to the fourteenth
degrees, Ionic Council, Princes of Jerusalem, which gives the fifteenth and six-
teenth degrees, and Corinthian Chapter, Rose Croix, seventeenth and eighteenth
degrees, were all chartered September 23, 1897. The 191 7 officers of these Ma-
sonic bodies are as follows :
Doric Lodge of Perfection: Robert S. Walker, thrice potent master; Freder-
ick W. Chesson, deputy master; Charles A. Templeton, senior warden; Charles
M. Brooks, junior warden; Carlton B. Coe, orator; Almon C. Judd, secretary ;
Willis M. Hall, treasurer; George C. Curtiss, master of ceremonies; Alpheus E.
Betts, guard; Alfred J. Shipley, hospitaler; Charles W. Hotchkiss, tyler.
Ionic Council, Princes of Jerusalem: Robert H. Batton, sovereign prince;
Clark H. W. Newton, high priest; Arthur B. Buckman, senior warden; Hiram L.
Kilborn, junior warden; Willis M. Hall, treasurer; Almon C. Judd, secretary;
George W. Seeton, master of ceremonies; John E. Porzenheim, master of en-
trances ; Alfred J. Shipley, hospitaler ; Charles W. Hotchkiss, tyler.
Corinthian Chapter of Rose Croix : Howard F. Moody, most wise master ;
Harry B. Sanderson, senior warden; Ralph E. Day, junior warden; Benjamin L.
Coe, orator ; Willis M. Hall, treasurer ; Almon C. Judd, secretary ; George C. Cur-
tiss, master of ceremonies; Alfred J. Shipley, hospitaler; Albert I. Chatfield,
guard ; Charles W. Hotchkiss, tyler.
Xaomi Chapter, No. 23, Order of Eastern Star, which was instituted September
12, 1879, an d constituted October 8, 1879, has the following officers in 1917:
Catherine Goppelt, worthy matron; Louis E. Granger, worthy patron; Lura K.
Richardson, associate matron; Jennie Marggraff, secretary; Sarah A. Patchen,
treasurer; Margaret Moore, conductress; Lena S. Perkins, associate conductress;
Charlotte Hannegan, chaplain ; Nellie E. Candee, marshal ; Clara H. Wirth, organ-
ist ; Elizabeth Huber, Adah ; Blanche L. Heebner, Ruth ; Mary E. Woodcock,
Esther ; Ereena T. Callender, Martha ; Charlotte Abercrombie, Electa ; Louis C.
Chapman, sentinel; Susie H. Granger, warder.
Evergreen Court, No. 2, Order of Amaranth, which was chartered April 22,
1910, has the following officers for 1917 : Daysie Perry, royal matron ; E. K. Diver,
royal patron ; Elizabeth Booth, associate royal matron ; Grace R. White, secretary ;
Elizabeth Hengeveld, treasurer; Mary Woodcock, conductress; Katherine Turrell.
associate conductress.
The Waterbury Masonic Aid Association, which was instituted July 16, 1896,
has the following officers for 191 7: Louis E. Granger, president; Ferdinand
Wolff, vice president; George C. Curtiss, treasurer; Raymond H. Ryder, secretary.
Directors, Ernest H. Horn, Charles W. Hotchkiss, Harry A. Richardson, Fer-
dinand Wolff, Charles E. Schlier. Sick visiting committee, Harry A. Richardson,
George O. Monroe.
250 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Kellogg- Lodge, No. 5, F. & A. M., an organization of colored Masons, was
organized October 12, 1874. Its officers at present are : Worshipful master, A. H.
Gatling; senior warden, W. W. Holland; junior warden, A. J. Darrow ; secretary,
C. C. Fowler; treasurer, W. H. Costen; tyler, S. Norwood.
THE WATERBURY MASONIC TEMPLE
The Masonic Temple, specially designed and planned for the use of the fra-
ternity, is really two buildings erected at right angles to each other. The West
Main street front building is 26 by 100 feet, four stories high, and is located directly
opposite the Soldiers Monument. On the first floor is the main entrance, a large
lobby, corridor, and the incorporators' room. The general library and reading
rooms occupy the entire second floor, and the various lodge parlors and social
rooms are on the third and fourth floors. The rear portion contains a fire-proof
stair and elevator tower.
The main building is 70 by no feet, and extends from the rear of the stair
tower across to Park Place, opposite the Y. M. C. A. gymnasium. It contains four
halls, with all necessary anterooms and conveniences. A large auditorium, known
as Temple Hall, beautifully decorated and furnished, is on the first floor. It has
a large stage, gallery, kitchen, several dressing rooms and six exits. It will seat
about nine hundred people, and is considered the best equipped and most acces-
sible hall for public use in the city. It is intended for a banquet hall for large
Masonic gatherings as well as a source of revenue.
The second floor, which is on the same level as the third floor of the front build-
ing, is divided into two lodge rooms, one 27^ by 50 feet, and one 37 by 65 feet.
These are used by the two blue lodges, chapter, council and orders of the Eastern
Star and the Amaranth. The commandery asylum, 50 by 58, is on the third floor,
and this room, which has a pipe organ and a large stage, is also used by the
Scottish rite bodies.
The Temple is owned and controlled by the fraternity through the Water-
bury Masonic Temple Corporation, a corporation without capital stock, organized
under the laws of the State of Connecticut June 29, 191 1, by the following incor-
porators, representing all the Masonic bodies of Waterbury :
Harmony Lodge, No. 42, F. & A. M., Robert S. Walker, Albert Schumaker,
Rev. F. D. Buckley.
Continental Lodge, No. 76, F. & A. M., Nelson J. Welton, H. H. Peck, F. B.
Daniels.
Eureka Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M., E. C. Adt, G. G. Mullings, W. L. Bab-
cock.
Waterbury Council, No. 21, R. & S. M., W. R. Keaveney, G. C. Curtiss, James
Callan.
Clark Commandery, No. 7, K. T., J. R. Smith, B. L. Coe, Carl E. Munger.
Doric Lodge of Perfection, A. A. S. R., J. R. Hughes. F. C. Marggrarr, M. F.
Kloppenburg.
Ionic Council, Princes of Jerusalem, A. A. S. R., Robert P. Lewis, J. K. Smith,
J. M. Woodward.
Corinthian Chapter, Rose Croix, A. A. S. R., Almon C. Judd, John B. Ebbs,
Willis M. Hall.
The corner stone of the new temple was laid on Saturday, August 10, 1912,
at 3 130 in the afternoon by M. W. Justin Holden, grand master of Masons in
Connecticut, assisted by his associate grand officers. The ceremony of laying
the stone was in accordance with the ancient Masonic custom and the exercises
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 251
included appropriate addresses by members of the craft and singing by the Ma-
sonic choir of Waterbury. There were a large number of Masons present from
all parts of Connecticut, and the event was one of the most impressive of its kind
ever held in Waterbury and will long be remembered by all who witnessed it.
Thirty-six lodges were represented and ten thirty-third degree Masons were
present when the stone was laid.
The stone contains a large number of historical documents, coins and medals,
many of which had once before been deposited in a corner stone, that of the old
temple on Bank Street, which was destroyed by the great fire of 1902, and recov-
ered when the stone was taken from the ruins.
The temple was informally opened by the Waterbury Masonic Temple Cor-
poration on Tuesday evening, March 24, 1914, and hundreds of the members of
the fraternity visited the building and inspected their new home for the first
time.
The first meeting in the temple for Masonic work was held by Harmony
Lodge in the memorial lodge room on Thursday evening, March 26, 1914. The
E. A. degree was conferred upon one candidate in the presence of a very large
gathering.
The temple was dedicated May 23, 1914, by M. W. Grand Master Edgar H.
Parkman, assisted by his associate grand lodge officers in the presence of a large
number of the brethren.
A beautiful bronze medal was made to commemorate the dedication of the
temple. The dies were cut by Alpheus E. Betts of Harmony Lodge and were
presented to the corporation by him. The medals were also presented to the
corporation by members of the fraternity employed by the Waterbury branches
of the American Brass Company, where the metal was made and rolled.
The present officers of the Temple Corporation are : Vice president and treas-
urer, Robert S. Walker ; secretary, Willis M. Hall ; owing to death of N. J. Wel-
ton, there is at present a vacancy in the presidency. Directors, George C. Curtiss,
Franklin B. Daniels, Willis M. Hall, John R. Hughes, Almon C. Judd, Carl E.
Munger, Henry H. Peck, Albert Schumaker, John R. Smith, Robert S. Walker.
THE ODD FELLOWS
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is, next to the Masonic order, the
oldest and strongest of the secret fraternal orders in Waterbury. Nosahogan
Lodge, No. 21, now has a membership of 940, and one of its members, George M.
Chapman, is at present at the head of the order in the state.
Nosahogan Lodge celebrated both its fiftieth and its seventieth anniversaries
in the last quarter century, both celebrations being the occasion of a large state
gathering. It was organized July 1, 1845.
Together with Townsend Lodge it has now entertained the Grand Lodge
of the state three times since 1892, and will again entertain it in 1918. In 1892
George H. Cowell, a member of Nosahogan Lodge, was grand master. The next
meeting of the Grand Lodge was held in 1898, when John Blair, another member
of Nosahogan Lodge, was retiring from the office of grand master. It met again
in Waterbury in 1910, when Wm. E. Thorns was grand master. In 1918 it will
hold a session in Waterbury, George M. Chapman, grand master and a member
of Townsend Lodge, closing his term as head of the order in the state.
Nosahogan Lodge has had the honor of having ten of its members in the
mayoralty chair. Of the later ones this includes former Mayors Reeves, Thorns,
Bradley, Webster, Barlow, and Mayor-Elect Sandland. Judges Kellogg and Bur-
252 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
pee of the Superior Court are prominent members. Former Chief of Police E<*an
and the present chief, Geo. M. Beach, are enthusiastic members of Nosahogan
Lodge.
One of the most beneficent features of Nosahogan Lodge is its mutual aid
association. This was instituted on May 2, 1884, and pays death benefits of $250
to widows of deceased members, and pays sick benefits of $6 weekly for thirteen
weeks. In 1906 its method of assessment was altered and is now graded according
to age. On December 10, 1917, all its bills were paid and it had in the treasury
$5,761.33. It paid out in 1917 $1,471.
Its officers are: President, Herbert J. Phillips; secretary, George M. Egan ;
treasurer, Homer G. Filley.
The present officers of Nosahogan Lodge are : Noble grand, Lester J. Smith ;
vice grand, Robert Gardner ; recording secretary, R. C. Frink ; financial secretary,
Wm. H. Lowe; treasurer, Peter B. Reeves; board of trustees, Francis T. Reeves,
W. J. Larkin, F. C. Fromm.
The past noble grands of Nosahogan Lodge since 1893 are as follows : Herbert
J. Phillips, Seron Decker, William J. Larkin, Charles H. Tomlinson, Frederick
E. Cross, William B. Kelsey, John H. Guernsey, Charles H. Keach, John J. Sie-
bert, Edward L. Bronson, Charles P. Haight, William A. Chase, William E.
Thorns, Charles F. Pierson, Clayton M. Andrews, Peter B. Reeves, Adam Callan,
Addison A. Ashborn, Albert H. Mills, William E. Wildman, Franklin B. Fischer,
W. M. Ashborn, G. T. Fuller, James A. Callan, Edmund B. Stocking, O. P. Arm-
bruster, F. C. Fromm, John H. Morrow, C. H. Granger, H. C. Dews, C. E. Mann,
A. F. Ells, E. S. Ross, H. R. Dews, R. C. Frink, F. B. Williams, W. J. Pettis,
Geo. Delevieleuse, Jr., Geo. A. Smith, F. A. Hungerford, H. J. Reynolds, R. C.
Perry, F. E. Hanchett, H. G. Reynolds, A. B. Phillips, Edward Shepard, Lester
J. Smith.
Townsend Lodge, No. 89, I. O. O. F., was organized January 1, 1872, by a
group of members from Nosahogan Lodge. In 1895 its membership was 339.
It is today, 19 17, 860.
The present officers are as follows: Noble grand, Louis F. Marggraff; vice
grand, Louis F. Hine ; recording secretary, Colin F. Wilson ; financial secretary,
George M. Chapman; treasurer, Henry A. Hoadley.
Ansantawae Encampment, No. 20, I. O. O. F., was organized September 25,
1853. Today its membership is 575, consisting of members of both Odd Fellow
lodges who expressed a desire to take higher degrees in the order. Its officers
for 1917 are: Chief Patriarch, Louis F. Hine; high priest, John H. Schaff ; senior
warden, O. Perry; junior warden, William McKee ; scribe, William H. Lowe;
treasurer, Peter B. Reeves.
Canton T. R. Martin, No. 8, Patriarchs Militant, I. O. O. F., which is the
uniformed rank of the order, was named after its first commander, November
16, 1893, although it had been instituted on May 30, 1883, first as the Ives Degree
Camp, No. 9, and later, March 31, 1886, as Canton Waterbury. It now has a
membership of no. Its present officers are: Captain. Karl L. Winter; lieu-
tenant, Louis Marggraff; ensign, Louis Wenzel; clerk, Robert A. Babcock;
accountant, G. A. Stafstrom.
On June 15, 1892, Winona Lodge, No. 8, of the Daughters of Rebekah was
instituted with Mrs. Elizabeth Geddes as first noble grand. On January 1, 1893,
its membership was over one hundred. It today has a membership of nearly
three hundred. The officers at present are : Noble grand, Winona Russell ; vice
grand, Mrs. Margarite Maxwell; recording secretary, Mrs. Ida Wildman; finan-
cial secretary, Mrs. Ada Reeves; treasurer, Mrs. Tillie Cleveland.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 253
The Odd Fellows Hall Association holds meetings the third Friday in Janu-
ary, April, July and October. The president is W. J. Larkin ; secretary and
treasurer, F. W. Tate.
These are the activities of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In addition there is a lodge known as Loyal Pride of the Valley, Xo. 7223,
I. O. O. F., Manchester Unit} - , which was instituted September 30, 1893. Its
present officers are: Noble grand, James Pheden; vice grand, Anthony Carabina;
P. S., George Holton; treasurer, George S. Fields.
The Odd Fellow lodge organized by colored men is known as Brass City
Lodge, No. 3049, Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, organized November iO.
1888. Its present officers are : N. G., A. Wooders ; P. S., J. B. Lassiter ; treasurer,
Shepard Mnnn ; P. N., F. W. W. Holland; N. F., Isaac Broman.
Household of Ruth, No. 799, G. U. O. of O. F., which is the woman's adjunct
of the Brass City Lodge, was organized November 2^, 1892, and at present has
the following officers: M., N. G. Ella McKinney ; P. M., N. G. Vandellia Louther;
prelate, Susan Brown ; W. R., Henrietta Hatcher ; treasurer, J. Edward Jones.
The Odd Fellows Hall was dedicated October 15, 1895, celebrating the ending
of a half century of existence of the order in Waterbury. The association was
organized in June, 1892, with Past Grand Master George H. Cowell as president;
Past Grand John Blair, vice president; Past Grand Casimir H. Bronson, secre-
tary, and Henry T. Stedman, treasurer. A charter was granted and the capital
stock, placed at $40,000, was soon subscribed. One of the first acts of the asso-
ciation was the purchase of the property owmed and occupied by the Second
Congregational Society at the east end of the Green and in 1894 a board of
directors and a building committee were elected to carry out the building project.
The directors were George H. Cowell, Henry T. Stedman, David B. Wilson, Jay
H. Hart, Benjamin L. Coe, Herbert W. Lake, James S. Gailey, Henry L. Wade,
John Blair, Albert I. Chatfield, Thomas D. Barlow, Henry W. French, Casimir
H. Bronson, Frederick E. Cross. The building committee consisted of George
H. Cowell, Albert I. Chatfield, Herbert W. Lake. The plans were drawn by Wil-
fred E. Griggs, a member of the order. The corner stone was laid November 27,
1894, and the building was dedicated October 15, 1895.
It is well to chronicle again the fact that in October, 1892, the Odd Fellows
Home for Aged and Infirm Members was opened in New London, a result of the
efforts of Grand Master George H. Cowell, of Waterbury, who made the first
contribution of $500.
On April 21, 1895, what was known as Connecticut Lodge, No. 6, International
Order of Odd Fellows, was organized as a Catholic branch of the Odd Fellows.
It began with a membership of 34, and with D. H. Tierney as its first noble grand.
The growth was slow and the flow of Catholic membership towards the Knights
of Columbus compelled its promoters to dissolve it in 1902. Its last officers were :
Noble grand, Michael Driscoll; vice grand, Thomas Donahue; recording secre-
tary, John S. Neagle ; corresponding secretary, John J. Geraghty ; treasurer, Daniel
E. Cronin.
KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS
Speedwell Lodge, No. 10, K. of P., is still one of the banner lodges of the
state, a reputation it acquired at the state encampment held in Waterbury in
September, 1894. Out of this lodge has come a group of notable Pythian
activities, both in the way of splendid beneficiary work and also of military training
in the uniformed rank. The membership of the order in Waterbury today is
placed at over 2,000.
254 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The officers of Speedwell Lodge at present are : Chancellor commander, Edwin
E. Fry; vice chancellor, Wm. Klebes; prelate, Frank P. Dews; master of works,
C. Rockwell Clyne ; keeper of record and seals, Frank J. Ogden ; master of finance,
Frank M. Treat; master of exchequer, Clifford Wells; master of arms, Benjamin
Port ; inner guard, George Wells ; outer guard, Harry Upson ; physician, Dr. Ed-
ward Kirschbaum ; trustees, Dr. Fred Marggraff, George Wells, Edward Wells.
Speedwell Lodge on December 10 had 287 members.
The Pythian Aid Association of Speedwell Lodge is now in its twenty-fifth
year of existence. It pays $5 a week sick benefit, and $100 death benefit. It has
125 members. Its officers are: President, George H. W r ells; secretary, E. R.
Snagg; treasurer, Edward B. Condet.
The past chancellor commanders of Speedwell Lodge, Knights of Pythias,
from 1893 to 191 7 are as follows : George W. Kinney, James A. Knox, Clyde M.
Howard, Wm. E. Thorns, Wm. R. Hitchcock, John A. Hitchcock, Lewis M. Hol-
land, Ed. B. Condet, Benjamin Fairclough, Arthur J. Leonard, Frederick C. Marg-
graff, G. Fred Moore, P. Besancon, George F. Lancaster, Arthur M. lies, Ralph
Stoddard, Robert Babcock, Frank L. Snagg, Wallace Duxbury, Dr. Edward H.
Kirschbaum, Joseph G. Kirschbaum.
Comstock Lodge, No. 13, K. of P., was instituted October 30, 1883. Its
officers at present are : Chancellor commander, James Miller ; keeper of record and
seals, Martin L. Wiegner; master of finance, Nelson F. Thomas; master of ex-
chequer, George E. Petit jean.
The past chancellor commanders of Comstock Lodge since 1893 are as fol-
lows : Charles S. Bradley, J. C. Lang, W. W. McLennan, John M. Newell, John
Houston, F. S. Phelps, W. H. Black, Charles Manville, Leon L. Hall, Percy D.
Petitjean, Leonard S. Tenney, Carl Kilborn, Charles S. Townsend, Adam Wilkie,
James Miller.
Good Will Lodge, No. 53, K. of P., in Waterville, was instituted April 30,
1894. Its officers at present are: Chancellor commander, William Bower; keeper
of record and seals, Charles H. Draper; master of exchequer, Joseph A. Gagnon;
master of finance, Newell Porch.
Magnolia Lodge, No. 60, K. of P., was instituted May 13, 1896. Its officers
at present are : Chancellor commander, Wm. P. Jones ; keeper of record and seals,
H. S. Miller ; master of finance, John C. Clarke ; master of exchequer, Charles
Drubva.
The Uniformed Rank, Knights of Pythias, now has its state headquarters
in Waterbury, with George E. Petitjean brigade commander, Col. Martin L.
Wiegner, assistant adjutant general, and Col. William Tysoe, assistant quarter-
master general.
This change of headquarters to Waterbury was made in 19 16. There is
under the brigade commander in this part of the state the second regiment, which
consists of the companies from Salisbury, Torrington, Bristol, Waterbury, Meri-
den, Waterville. In 1909 when it was organized as a regiment, its first colonel
was L. L. Hall. He was succeeded in 1912 by George E. Petitjean, who remained
in command until 1916. The second regiment now has the following officers:
Colonel, Fred Gauthier, Hartford; lieutenant colonel, Nelson F. Thomas; major
first battalion, Christian Hanson, Hartford; major second battalion, Charles H.
Draper; adjutant lieutenant, D. Brooks Rubin; quartermaster lieutenant, John
Wheeler.
The two Waterbury companies are officered as follows:
E. F. Durand Company, No. 11, Uniformed Rank, K. P., was instituted
April 1, 1890. The present officers are: Captain, Frank J. Ogden; first lieu-
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 255
tenant, Joseph T. Dick; second lieutenant, Frank T. Dews; treasurer, Albert C.
Kaecher; recorder, Wallace Duxbury.
The past captains of E. F. Durand Div. U. R., K. P. from 1893 to I 9 I 7 were:
F. R. White, C. L. Chapelle, Charles Schmidt, Frank J. Ogden, Edward J.
Schuyler, Wilfred L. Snow, F. B. F. Wallace, Ernest C. Colby.
Waterbury Company. Xo. 20. U. R., K. P., was instituted .May 3, 1894. Its
officers at present arc: Captain, Wade S. Manville; first lieutenant, Adam Wilkie ;
second lieutenant. S. G. MacDonald; recorder. Martin L. Wiegner; treasurer, Eli
G. Main.
The past captains of Waterbury Company, U. R., K. P., 1894 to 1917 are:
( .eorge E. Petitjean. Wm. R. Keaveney, David Miller, Frank R. White, M. L.
Wiegner, Jean Ingraham, George A. Pouard, Nelson F. Thomas, Loren S. Chase,
Wade S. Manville.
The following are the officers of Waterville Company, U. R., K. of P. : (Dap-
tain, L. L. Northrop ; first lieutenant, Howard C. Post ; second lieutenant, William
Draper ; recorder, Joseph Davis ; treasurer, Charles H. Draper.
Section No. 3275, Insurance Department, K. of P., was instituted September,
1896. The president is William H. Strickland ; secretary and treasurer, Martin
L. Wiegner.
Myrtle Temple, Pythian Sisters, has the following officers : M. of R. and C,
Minnie Hitchcock; M. of F., Charlotte Harmon.
Ivy Temple, No. 5, Pythian Sisters, has the following officers : M. E. C. Mrs.
Adelia Fields; M. of R. and C, Mrs. L. Dutton; M. of F., Mrs. Lottie Petitjean.
Section 248, Endowment Rank, K. of P., was instituted in 1892. Its presi-
dent from 1893 to I 9°9 was Joseph H. Somers. After that date, all the official
work has been looked after by its secretary and treasurer, Henry Baumgartner.
Its membership is small.
Friedrich Wilhelm Lodge, Knights of Pythias, organized in 1876, was a
thriving German Lodge in 1893. It was dissolved in 1901, and its members
joined other lodges of the order. Its past chancellor commanders from 1893
to 1901 were: P. Meerlaender, Charles Schmidt, Otto Haude, M. Vogt, E. Ker-
sten, C. E. Hassler, O. Tuebner, Frank Deharde.
WATERBURY LODGE, B. P. O. ELKS
The Order of Elks was instituted in 1867, by a few members of the theatrical
profession, drawn together for social intercourse. It has developed into a wide-
spread and powerful order of benevolence and charity, with lodges in over two hun-
dred and twenty-five of the principal cities of the Union. Nearly all of the rep-
utable male members of theatrical profession are members of the order, and on its
roll of membership will be found the names of prominent officials, merchants,
bankers, journalists, legal and medical men and bright lights of the world in art,
literature and music.
Waterbury Lodge was instituted on June 15, 1893. It was the sixth
Elk lodge organized in Connecticut. The charter members numbered thirty-four
and the first officers of the lodge were as follows : Exalted ruler, Michael J.
Colloty; esteemed leading knight, William Hellmann; esteemed loyal knight, Ed-
ward J. Starr; esteemed lecturing knight, John F. Holohan ; secretary, Joseph A.
Cullen ; treasurer. James E. Watts ; esquire, William D. Richardson ; tyler, Edward
E. Harvey ; chaplain. Thomas J. Moran ; organist, John H. Christie ; inner guard,
William T. Carroll ; trustees, David T. Mack, David David, William Johnson.
It furnished a suite of rooms at 108 Bank Street, where it held its meetings and
256 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
its affairs until the fire of 1902 completely destroyed its effects. For three years
it had rooms in the Waterbury Trust Company Building, but in 1909 it raised
the funds for the purchase of the Curtiss Home on West Main Street. In 1910
it built its beautiful home back of the old residence, and the dedication exercises
were attended by notable Elks from all over the country.
In 1914 Truman S. Lewis offered the club $16,000 for the complete interior
renovating of the old building and its outfitting. When the work was completed,
the cost amounted to $26,100, and Mr. Lewis insisted on making this the amount
of his donation. This included the new bowling alleys and tennis courts.
Its present officers are : Exalted ruler, Truman S. Lewis ; secretary, Edward
F. Moran; treasurer, Maurice C. Culhane; tyler, John F. Griffin.
The following is a list of the past exalted rulers: Michael J. Colloty,
William D. Richardson, Christopher Strobel, Richard F. Grady, Edward L.
Maloney, John H. Cassidy, James E. Madigan, William H. Johnston, William
J. Spain, Acly W. Castle, Charles A. Jackson, Lewis M. Holland, William J.
Shannahan, Thomas B. Carney, Harry J. Cook, Milton V. Medling, Andrew D.
Dawson.
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
The Knights of Columbus, a fraternal and beneficent society of Catholic men,
was founded in New Haven February 2, 1882, by Father M. J. McGivney, a
Waterbury man, whose grave in St. Joseph's Cemetery has become a shrine for
members of the order from all over the country. The purpose of the society is
thus stated : "To develop a practical Catholicity among its members, to promote
Catholic education and charity, and through its insurance department, to furnish
at least temporary financial aid to the families of deceased members."
Waterbury's two councils have been heavy contributors to all the national
movements of the order, including the gift of $50,000 for the endowment of a
chair of American history in the Catholic university in Washington, and the fund
for the monument to Columbus at Washington.
Sheridan Council of Waterbury was one of the twenty-five highest donors to
the university fund which was formally presented April 14, 1904.
On April 27, 1885, steps were taken to organize the first Waterbury Council
of the order, and on May 3, the initiation took place in the G. A. R. Hall. The
first officers were: Cornelius Maloney, grand knight; M. F. Connolly, deputy
grand Knight; J. A. Hynes, recording secretary; Matthew Kennedy, treasurer;
W. F. Dillon, lecturer; T. D. Healy, advocate; J. J. Donegan, warden; T. F.
Butler, outside guard; D. J. Mahaney, inside guard; J. H. Fruin, H. D. Smythe,
assistant guards; D. J. Gaynor, J. J. Egan, W. E. Buckley, trustees; J. J. Neville,
physician.
Sheridan Council had grown to such an extent that on February 3, 1886,
the first move was made to organize a new council to be known as Carrolton
Council. On March 24, 1886, in Sheridan Hall, East Main Street, the new coun-
cil was instituted, the degrees conferred and the officers installed by District
Deputy Cornelius Maloney. The following were the first officers and members
of the new council: J. A. Moran, grand knight; D. H. Tierney, deputy grand
knight; M. H. Brennan, chancellor; George Byrnes, recording secretary; T. F.
Jackson, financial secretary; D. T. Hart, treasurer; M. F. Spellman, warden;
M. J. Jordan, inside guard ; J. H. Kilduff, outside guard ; Dr. E. W. McDonald,
physician ; D. H. McGraw, Robert McGrath, W. S. Jones, J. E. Watts, John J.
Jackson, Peter Lamb, D. H. Buckley, A. J. McMahon.
WATERBURY AND THE N'AUGATUCK VALLEY 257
This was dissolved May 6, 1895, and its members at once affiliated with Sher-
idan Council.
On December 16, 1888, Sheridan Council moved from G. A. R. Hall to St.
Patrick's Hall, going- two years later to Pythian Hall. In 1896 it met in Elks
Hall in the Jones-Morgan Building, and January 1, 1902, moved to Knights of
Columbus Hall at 43 East Main Street, where it is now domiciled and where its
social adjunct, the Columbus Club, occupies the floor below its meeting place.
The past grand knights of Sheridan Council are as follows: Cornelius Ma-
loney, J. J. McDonald, B. F. Reid, J. A. Moran, J. D. Bolan, J. W. Wigmore,
J. W. McDonald, J. E. Smith, T. F. Donovan, J. A. Hynes, E. J. Finn, Lucien
Wolff, John J. Galvin, P. II. Real, Charles E. Finley, E. J. Real, Thomas B.
Carney, Dr. D. J. Donahue, M. J. Carney, John L. Gaffney, Wm. F. Moher.
Its membership now is approximately five hundred.
The present officers are : Grand knight, John L. Gaffney; deputy grand knight,
Timothy F. Barry; recording secretary, William F. Guilfoile; financial secretary,
Thomas F. Behan.
On August 10, 1887, in the hall of Sheridan Council, the third council,
which was known as Barcelona Council, No. 42, was instituted and officers in-
stalled as follows by District Deputy Cornelius Maloney : Grand knight, fohn F.
Bossidy ; deputy grand knight, Thomas Kane ; financial secretary, J. J. Madden ;
recording secretary, Jeremiah Crowley; treasurer, Wm. C. McDonald; warden,
Wm. J. Delaney; inside guard, Thomas Bergin; outside guard, Thomas Fleming;
physician, Dr. J. F. Hayes.
The members of Barcelona Council joined with Sheridan members in organ-
izing the Columbus Club. In 1917 Barcelona's principal officers were: Grand
knight, William F. Ryan ; recording secretary, Thomas Dodds ; financial secretary,
Michael F. Conlon; treasurer, Walter E. Monagan.
There have been two other councils, Hendricken, established in 1899 and dis-
solved in 1909, and Mulcahy Council, established in 1900 and dissolved in 1910.
Both were active for a time, but the membership was finally merged with both
Sheridan and Barcelona Councils.
The first annual pilgrimage to the grave of Father McGivney. founder of the
order of the Knights of Columbus, took place June 10, 1900. Sheridan entered
heartily into the affair, and on June 10 visiting knights from New York, Brook-
lyn and many places in Connecticut, with their friends to the number of
about five thousand came to Waterbury. The local councils prepared for them on a
grand scale, and this everft was one of the most memorable in the history of the
order. New and increased interest was taken in the Knights of Columbus at once,
and as a result, the old councils received a number of new members.
The second annual pilgrimage of the Knights of Columbus to the grave of the
founder of the order, Rev. M. J. McGivney, took place June 10, 1901.
The insurance feature has been greatly altered since the inception of the
society. At present it is confined to three classes, one, two and three thousand,
and payments are made by assessment and according to age.
Columbus Club occupies the greater part of the third floor at 43 East Main
Street. This has been finely furnished, has billiard and pool tables, a complete
library, and files of many newspapers and magazines. It is now five years old.
Its first officers were: President, Charles J. Finley; secretary, Frank J. Hogan ;
treasurer, Edward J. Real.
Its present officers are: President, T. F. Barry; secretary, Paul Schultze ;
treasurer, Raymond F. Downey.
The Knights of Columbus in December, 1917, raised $35,000 for the order's
Vol. 1—17
258 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
national "camp" fund, which is to be used along the lines of the Y. M. C. A. for
the benefit of the boys in the army.
ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS
In 1895 the Ancient Order of Hibernians with a membership of 1,600 was
operating in five divisions, all of which held meetings in St. Patrick's Hall. Their
presidents were : Division No. 1, James E. Finley ; Division No. 2, John M. Lynch ;
Divison No. 3, James P. Morris; Division No. 4, John H. Moran; Division No. 5,
M. Doran. These had been organized respectively in 1874, 1884, 1886, 1888 and
the fifth on October 12, 1893.
In 1898 the growth had been such that a sixth division was organized with
John H. Powers as president, Patrick K. Finnan as recording secretary, Charles
E. McDonald as financial secretary, and J. H. Mulville as treasurer. Meeting
places had again been changed, Divisions 2, 4 and 5 meeting in Hibernian Hall
at 73 East Main Street. The first and sixth met at G. A. R. Hall, and the third
in Congress Hall.
In 1903 the interest in the order was at its highest, and a ladies' auxiliary was
formed, with Margaret Crane as president, Mary Cavanaugh as vice president,
Annie Meara as recording secretary, Mary Halpin as financial secretary, and
Mary Phelan as treasurer.
In 1904. Company E, Hibernian Rifles, was organized with John Griffin as
captain, William Moher, first lieutenant, and John P. Sheehan as second lieutenant.
An experienced drill master was engaged and drills were held from October 1st
to May 1st every Tuesday in Hibernian Hall. From 1908 until 1916 it held its
drills on Sundays.
In 191 1 Peter Griffin became first lieutenant and Patrick Shanahan second
lieutenant. In 191 2 Peter Griffin became captain, Patrick Shanahan first lieu-
tenant, and William Driscoll second lieutenant.
Company E, Hibernian Rifles, which is still in existence, with Peter Griffin
as captain, Patrick Shanahan, first lieutenant, and William Driscoll as second
lieutenant, has held no drills since 191 6, owing to the fact that many of Its mem-
bers either volunteered or were called out in the draft.
In 1905 Division No. 6, which had suffered a loss in membership, gave up its
charter and its members joined the other divisions.
The order now began to feel the encroachments of the Knights of Columbus
on its membership and interest waned to some extent. In 1909 the members
of the second and fifth divisions joined to form Monsignor Slocum Branch with
these officers : President, D. J. Slavin ; vice president, T. F. Luddy ; recording
secretary, P. Shanahan; financial secretary, Joseph McGrail, and M. Bergin,
treasurer. In 19 10 the members of Division No. 1 dissolved and joined the re-
maining branches, Divisions Nos. 3 and 4 and Monsignor Slocum Division.
These are the organizations in existence today.
The present officers of the various organizations connected with the order
follow :
Division No. 3: President, Timothy F. Luddy; financial secretary, John
Kearney ; recording secretary, Patrick Kendrick ; treasurer, John Claffey.
Division No. 4: President, Patrick McFadden; financial secretary, Bernard
Whiteny ; recording secretary, Joseph Holahan ; treasurer, John D. Carey.
Ladies' Auxiliary, A. O. H.: President, Mrs. Charles A. Jackson; recording
secretary, Nellie Lynch ; financial secretary, Mary E. Kelly ; treasurer, Mrs. John
Lynch ; chaplain, Rev. Luke Fitzsimons.
WATERBUKV AXI) THE NAUGATUCK \ ALLEY 259
Mgr. Slocum Branch, A. O. H. : President, William II. Dunleavy; reeording
secretary, William J. Driscoll; financial secretary, John J. Foran; treasurer,
George A. Hynes.
ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN
Waterbury Lodge, No. 5, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen was
instituted August 3, 1880, with twelve charter members. This grew to 250 in
1895 and today is close to that figure. The officers at present are: master work-
man, [. E. Sandland; recorder, J. A. Garde; treasurer, G. M. Egan; receiver
L. A. Totten.
American Lodge, No. 44, was instituted January 23, 1890. Its officers at
present are : Master workman, Anthony Moore ; recorder, Ellsworth G. Reynolds ;
financier, Henry J. Reynolds.
Connecticut Lodge, No. 52, was instituted May 18, 1892. Its present officers
are: Master workman, W. H. Brakenridge; recorder, Charles Baumgartner;
financier, James McKnight.
ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS
There are now in existence in the United States four distinct orders which
use the name "Foresters." The original lodge formed in Waterbury, July 8,
1874, Court Fruitful Vine, No. 5991, Ancient Order of Foresters, was and is
still under the English jurisdiction. In 1889, When the first separation came, the
courts upheld it in its right to the title, "Ancient Order of Foresters."
The present officers of Court Frutiful Vine are : Chief ranger, George John-
son ; past chief ranger, Arthur W. Thompson ; recording secretary, J. W. Mc-
Keller ; financial secretary, Donald McKeller ; treasurer, Charles E. Turner.
FORESTERS OF AMERICA
In 1889 the American order assumed the title "Foresters of America" and was
completely separated from its English connections. In 1893 it was an independent
American order.
It had nine courts, three side degrees and about twelve hundred members.
Today it has fourteen courts, with a membership over double that of 1895. Its
activities as at present organized are as follows :
Court Shields, No. 29, F. of A., was instituted May 4, 1887. Its officers at
present are as follows : Chief ranger, Andrew Stine ; financial secretary, M. F.
McKennerney ; recording secretary, William Vance ; treasurer, Patrick Barry.
Court Waterbury, No. 3, F. of A.: Chief ranger, Roger Lynch; recording
secretary, Henry H. Hayden; financial secretary, John Z. Dowling; treasurer,
James J. Connelly.
Court Falcon, No. 44, F. of A., instituted July 12, 1889. Its officers at present
are: Chief ranger, Thomas O'Leary, Jr.; recording secretary, Edward Herbert;
financial secretary, James P. Herbert ; treasurer, Patrick G. Egan.
Court Linden, No. 75, F. of A., was instituted August 1, 1892. Its officers
at present are: Chief ranger, John Finnerty; financial secretary, Joseph S. W^ors-
ley; recording secretary, John B. Marcoux; treasurer, Thomas M. McGrath.
Court Welch, No. 84, F. of A., has the following officers: Chief ranger, Joseph
McArdle; financial secretary, George H. Heckelman ; recording secretary, Joseph
A. Brenneis ; treasurer, Elmer J. Chatfield. This is the Waterville branch of the
lodge.
260 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Court Martin Hellman, No. 86, F. of A., was instituted November 7, 1894.
The officers at present are : Chief ranger, William J. Caldwell ; financial secretary,
James Cosgrove ; recording secretary, Patrick Kendrick ; treasurer, Paul Asheim.
Court America, No. 98, F. of A. : Chief ranger, John Vose ; financial secretary,
Benjamin W. Johnson; recording secretary, George H. Clark; treasurer, June D.
Cashman.
Court Oregon, No. 138, F. of A.: Chief ranger, Edward Foley; recording sec-
retary, Thomas Byrnes ; financial secretary, William F. Guilf oile ; treasurer, James
McKnight.
Court Richard Wagner, No. 139, F. of A., has the following officers: Chief
ranger, R. G. Amberg ; financial secretary, Louis H. Pellinitz ; recording secretary,
H. E. Wilhaus ; treasurer, John J. Sief en.
Court Champlain, No. 146, F. of A., has the following officers : Chief ranger,
Henri Vigeant ; financial secretary, Charles Charpentier ; recording secretary,
Emile A. Schneider ; treasurer, Ralph L. Brandely.
Court D. B. Hamilton, No. 147, F. of A.: Chief ranger, H. Miller; financial
secretary, B. F. Hoggett; recording secretary, M. Cossett; treasurer, Stanley B.
Heaton.
Court Guiseppe Verdi, No. 151, F. of A., has the following officers: Chief
ranger, Santolo D'Andrea ; financial secretary, Nicola Garzia ; recording secre-
tary, Angelo G. Stanco ; treasurer, M. Pesee.
Nordsjernum Lodge, No. 165, S. F. of A., has the following officers: Presi-
dent, David Dahlstrom ; secretary, Arvid Morten ; financial secretary, Oscar Rich-
ardson ; cashier, Edward Strom.
Pine Rock Circle, No. 29, Lady Foresters of America : Chief commander,
Mrs. Mary Dechon ; sub. chief commander, Sophia Carroll; recording secretary,
Helen Cross; financial secretary, Catherine McNeish; treasurer, Mary C. Goe-
merly.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF FORESTERS
The Independent Order of Foresters was a further separation, and was or-
ganized solely for insurance purposes. Court Waterbury, No, 3578, was estab-
lished June 1, 1897. Its officers are: Chief ranger, William La Force; financial
secretary, Thomas A. Maton; recording secretary, George A. Hines; treasurer,
Adam Wilkie.
Court Eugenie, No. 794, I. O. F. : Chief ranger, Flora Gagne; recording sec-
retary, Mrs. Eugenie Duguay; financial secretary, Pomela La France.
There is also now a Catholic Order of Foresters.
LOYAL ORDER OF MOOSE
The Loyal Order of Moose, Waterbury Lodge, No. 703, was organized
August 1, 191 1, as the local lodge of the national fraternal organization of that
name. Its membership today in Waterbury is 1,500. The order pays a sick
benefit of $7 a week and a death benefit of $100. It also cares for dependent
orphans.
Its present officers are: Dictator, Frank H. Bailey; vice dictator, Peter J.
Shea; past dictator, Thomas W. Parrie ; treasurer, John H. Butler; secretary,
Cornelius Horgan; prelate, Albert Whitaker; trustees, M. A. Gray, Thomas H.
King, Thomas E. Bywater.
Its first officers in Waterbury were: Dictator, Matthew J. Smith; past die-
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 261
tator, Robert Palmer; vice dictator, Herbert E. Hughes; prelate, Arthur Young:
treasurer, Howard L. Rogers; secretary, Chris. J'. Harmon.
Meetings were held for eighteen months in the hall at No. n North Main
Street. After that time, club rooms were leased and elegantly furnished. Four
years ago, the lodge moved to 95 Bank Street, and the club rooms were greatly
enlarged. They are now kept open daily for the entertainment of its members.
ORDER OF HEPTASOPHS
Until August 1, 1917, there were three conclaves of the Improved Order of
Heptasophs, a fraternal insurance organization. These were Waterbury Conclave,
No. 326; Silas Bronson Conclave, No. 651, and Jacques Cartier Conclave, No.
810. The membership of these was about three hundred, although since its insti-
tution in Waterbury in 1888 it had at one time attained to a membership of over
six hundred.
On August 1 st all these groups which desired to continue the insurance were
taken over by the Federal Aid Union of Lawrence, Kan., which assumed all of
the liabilities of the old order of Heptasophs.
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
The Fraternal Order of Eagles, Waterbury Aerie, No. 379, the local branch
of a national organization, which is largely social, was established April 28, 1903.
It now has a membership of 1,275. In March, 1916, the local aerie purchased the
Waterbury Club Building on North Main Street.
The Eagles have had a prosperous career in Waterbury. At its recent bazaar,
which was given in Buckingham Hall for the purpose of securing a building and
furnishing fund, the sum of $4,700 was raised, a good start for its purpose. It is
believed that it will in the spring of 1918 have enough money in its building fund
to begin the erection of its new dance hall in the rear of the present beautiful
club house.
At its election held in December, it elected the following officers : President,
John H. Crery; vice president, Edward Foley; secretary, Dennis R. Mitchell;
treasurer, Charles Lynch ; chaplain, Martin Hayden ; recording secretary, Patrick
Hogan; trustees, Thomas D. Temple, Ed. J. Walsh, Edward Mraz.
Its first meeting place was at 288 South Main Street, and its officers in 1906,
the year of its organization here, were : President, J. C. Haren ; secretary, Dennis
R. Mitchell; treasurer, P. J. Courtney.
In 1908 it moved to Knights of Columbus Hall and in 1910 to Eagle's Hall
at 151 Bank Street. There it fitted up beautiful club rooms, and remained until
it purchased the property of the Waterbury Club.
IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MIA
The Improved Order of Red Men haw two tribes in Waterbury, with a
Woman's Auxiliary. It is a social, secret, fraternal and benevolent association,
and its first Connecticut Great Council was organized in August, 1887. On
December 15, 1889, Waterbury's first tribe came into existence. Its officers at
present are :
Tunxis Tribe, No. 10, C. of R.. E. M. Clarck; C. of W.. W. F. Engert ; K.
of W., Edward M. Dwyer.
Toantick Tribe. No. 22, was instituted October 19, 1892. Its officers are:
262 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Sachem, George Pond; C. of R., William S. Bolton; C. of W., Frank A. Wells;
K. of W., H. L. Bassett.
Momamton Council, No. 5, D. of P. is the ladies' branch of the organiza-
tion, and has the following officers : Pocahontas, Mrs. Katherine Turrell; K. of
R., Mrs. Louis Brown; K. of W., Mrs. Clara Leonard.
ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS
The Order of United American Mechanics was organized in Philadelphia, as
a patriotic organization. It later extended its activities and became a beneficiary
as well as a social and patriotic society. Franklin Council, Progressive Council,
Martha Washington Council, as well as the Gen. Joseph Warren Commandery,
have all been merged into the parent body, Excelsior Council, No. 2, or the
Woman's Auxiliary, Lady Trumbull Council, No. 5, Daughters of Liberty.
Excelsior Council, No. 2, O. U. A. M., was instituted February 1, 1877.
The officers are : Councilor, F. F. Partiss ; recording secretary, D. L. Russell ;
financial secretary, H. W. Edwards ; treasurer, C. S. Ryder.
Lady Trumbull Council, No. 5, Daughters of Liberty, instituted June 30,
1882. Councilor, Charles Gibson; recording secretary, Rachel Chase; financial
secretary, Clara Wilmarth ; treasurer, Abbie Seeley.
Fidelity Council, No. 47, Sons and Daughters of Liberty. Councilor, Mrs.
Elizabeth Richmond; recording secretary, Mrs. Fannie Warner; financial secre-
tary, Mrs. Lettie J. Flood; treasurer, Mrs. Frank Blakeslee.
Progressive Council, United Order of American Mechanics, was in 1895 a
young and flourishing council which had been organized on February 22, 1893.
In 1897 its membership had grown so small that it surrendered its charter, the
members joining Excelsior Council of the order.
Gen. Joseph Warren Commandery, United Order of American Mechanics,
was organized in 1892 by the members of Progressive and Excelsior councils, as
the uniformed rank of the order. Its officers in 1895 were: Captain, E. J.
Schuyler; first lieutenant, A. J. Scott; second lieutenant, C. A. Green.
These officials, together with the members, decided in 1896 to surrender the
charter as the membership was too small for effective drill work.
' MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA
The Modern Woodmen of America, a national fraternal and insurance organ-
ization, with headquarters in Rock Island, 111., organized Rosedale Camp, No.
9,615, in Waterbury on May 1, 1902. It now has 174 members. Its present
officers are: Counsel, David McNamara ; clerk, George S. Husker; banker,
Edward Keenan.
WOODMEN OF THE WORLD
The Woodmen of the World, a national fraternal and insurance organization,
has four camps in Waterbury. The first of these, White Oak Camp, No. 3, was
established in 1896 and Arbutus Camp, No. 8, came soon after this date. The
total membership in Waterbury in 191 7 is 1,500. The officials of each of the
camps are as follows :
White Oak Camp. No. 3, C. C, H. Cook; clerk, W. E. Roberts; banker,
O. G. Rabe.
Arbutus Camp, No. 8, C. C, D. F. Cass ; clerk, H. W. .Edwards ; banker,
F. C. Meisinger.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 263
Pine Camp, No. 68, C. C, Dr. G. G. Mangini; clerk, Santolo D'Andrea ;
banker, Donato Margiotto.
workmen's circle
The national fraternal and insurance organization known as Workmen's Circle,
has three branches in Waterbury, Workmen's Circle, No. 26, was organized in
March, 1903, and now has a membership of 155. Workmen's Circle, Branch
137, organized in 1910, has a membership of 120. Workmen's Circle, Ladies'
Branch 190, has now a membership of 40. The order has its own sanitarium
at Liberty, N. Y., where it cares for those of its members who are stricken with
tuberculosis. It pays sick and death benefits.
The officers are: Circle 26, George Fisher, secretary; treasurer, J. Green-
blatt ; Circle 137, secretary, M. Saltzman; treasurer, H. Feldman; Circle 190,
secretary, Bessie Cassel; treasurer, Mrs. Max Levin.
SONS OF ST. GEORGE
The order of Sons of St. George is a progressive fraternal society which
English residents in the United States formed as a social and benefit organiza-
tion. Hawthorne Lodge, No. 213, was instituted in Waterbury July 6, 1883.
Its membership is naturally limited, though at present it is well over the hundred
mark. Its officers for 1917 are: W. P., H. T. Matthews; W. T., G. R. Lewis;
secretarv, Thomas Hodkinson.
SHEPHERDS OF BETHLEHEM
Shepherds of Bethlehem, Radiant Star, No. 2, is a woman's fraternal and
benefit organization. Its present officers are : Commander, Mrs. Grace E. Can-
dee; scribe, Mrs. Susie M. Granger; accountant, Mrs. 'Jennie C. Ainslee; treas-
urer, Mrs. Helen M. Stanley.
KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE
The following are the officers of Amity Castle, No. 11, Knights of the Golden
Eagle : Noble chief, William McNaught ; master of records, F. B. Reynolds ;
clerk of exchequer, H. W. Edwards; keeper of exchequer, William Hatton.
It has in addition to its insurance feature, an adjunct in the Amity Social
Club, which has finely furnished club rooms adjoining the lodge hall at 136
Grand Street. All the members of the Amity lodge are entitled to club privileges.
NEW ENGLAND ORDER OF PROTECTION
The Waterbury lodges of the New England Order of Protection celebrated
the thirtieth anniversary of the organization of the order November 15, 1917.
The first lodge in Waterbury was Archer Lodge, No. 4. established June 1, 1888,
the year following the founding of the order. Since its foundation it has paid
out in the five New England states, which comprise its jurisdiction, $17,000,000
in insurance. It has now placed its rates on a new basis, insuring permanency
to the order.
The lodges with date of organization and present officers are as follows:
Anchor Lodge, No. 40, organized June 1, 1888. Warden, George S. Davis;
secretary. Frank L. Kainz ; financial secretary, Edward J. Morgan; treasurer,
264 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Annie E. Burritt. The approximate membership in 191 7 is two hundred and
thirty.
Mattatuck Lodge, No. 187, organized March 15, 1892. Warden, J. S. Neill;
recording secretary, H. W. Alden; financial secretary, Ira Markle; treasurer,
George M. Condet. The approximate membership in 191 7 is two hundred.
Alexander Von Humboldt Lodge, No. 210, organized February 23, 1893.
Warden, Elizabeth Huber; recording secretary, Emil C. Steinman; financial
secretary, Valentine Hahn ; treasurer, Clara Armbruster. The approximate
membership in 191 7 is two hundred and fifty.
Brass City Lodge, No. 244, organized December 5, 1894. Warden, Mrs.
Mary E. Deehon ; secretary, Thomas Eddy ; financial secretary, Edward Byrne ;
treasurer, Patrick Barry. The approximate membership in 191 7 is two hundred.
Sheridan Lodge, organized May 31, 1893. Warden, Jennie A. Turley ; re-
cording and financial secretary, Joseph O'Connell ; treasurer, John H. Butler.
The membership in 1917 is approximately one hundred and seventy-five.
Waterbury Lodge, No. 486. Warden, Mrs. Sarah Cook; secretary, John
Parry. The approximate membership in 1917 is one hundred.
ORDER OF OWLS
Order of Owls, Waterbury Nest, No. 1,427, has the following officers: Presi-
dent, J. A. Reed; secretary, W. F. Guilfoile; financial secretary, George M.
Chapman ; treasurer, A. L. Hellenstein.
UNITED ORDER OF PILGRIM FATHERS
Mizpah Colony, No. 163, United Order of the Pilgrim Fathers, was organ-
ized March 15, 1895, with thirty charter members. Its first governor was Jacob
B, Blakeslee.
Its present officers are: Governor, Reinhold R. Book; secretary, Sarah A.
Benham ; treasurer, Louis R. Silvernail; collector, Helen M. Stanley.
KNIGHTS OF MACCABEES
The Knights of the Maccabees, a national fraternal and insurance organiza-
tion, has three lodges in Waterbury. Valley Tent, No. 13, organized December
8, 1896, has a membership of sixty, and Waterbury Tent, No. 36, has between
fifty and sixty. The Woman's Benefit Association of the Maccabees is called
Eagle Hive, No. 16.
The officers of these organizations at present are :
Knights of the Maccabees, Valley Tent, No. 13: Commander, Charles F.
Loomis ; lieutenant commander, Ad9lph Recker ; record keeper, Colin F. Wilson ;
finance keeper, Harris Hayden.
Knights of the Maccabees, Waterbury Tent, No. 36: Commander, Thomas
W. Gill; lieutenant commander, Patrick J. Lynch; record keeper, T. J. Coyle;
finance keeper, William J. O'Brine.
Woman's Benefit Association of the Maccabees, Eagle Hive, No. 16: L. C,
Mrs. Elizabeth Shearon; L. L. C, Annie Courtney; finance keeper, Julia M.
Cunningham ; record keeper, Mrs. Mary Keef e.
UNITED ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CROSS
The United Order of the Golden Cross is both an insurance and a temperance
organization. Sterling Commandery, No. 300, was instituted in 1886, and in
WATERBUKY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 265
1895 had a membership of 132. This has been reduced, but the commandery is
still active in its work and thriving. Its officers at present are : N. C, George
Clapp; K. of R., Mrs. Annie Rowley; F. K. of R., Mrs. S. Nellie Clapp; treasurer,
Mrs. Margaret Meeker.
THE ROYAL ARCANUM
The Royal Arcanum, a national fraternal and insurance organization, has one
council, Mattatuck, No. 713, in Waterbury, established October 13, 1882. It
grew to large proportions and held its membership until a few years ago, when
the first change in rates was made effective. A further change in 1916 affected
Mattatuck Council as it did the councils all over the country, where the average
loss of membership was about 20 per cent. The present officers are as follows :
Regent, Charles A. Hill; secretary, Wallace Roberts; collector, Louis A.
Totten ; treasurer, George W. Watson.
PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY
The object of this great national order is the education and elevation of the
American farmer, and the social, moral and intellectual development of its
members.
Mad River Grange, No. 71, started December 1, 1887, with fifty charter
members. During the height of its success, Mad River Grange had as many as
700 names on its list. In 1895 there were 200. Today the list is small, but
composed of the best farmers in this section. It meets weekly in Grange Hall,
Mill Plain, during all but the three summer months. Its officers at present are :
Master, Merton E. Reid : overseer, Oscar B. Todd ; lecturer, Charles A. Graham ;
secretary, Bessie D. Parks.
ORDER OF THE SILVER STAR
Martha Washington Council, Order of the Silver Star, was a social and sick
benefit organization which flourished in 1895 and in 1902 had finely furnished
club rooms in Johnson's Hall. The fire of that year destroyed all its possessions
and for a time it met in the homes of its members. Its councillor at this time
was Frank L. Snagg and he and his associates decided in 1903 to discontinue the
meetings. It has never been officially dissolved and still has a small fund in
the bank.
FRENCH SOCIETIES
Club Sadi Carnot was organized August 21, 1904. Its officers for the present
year are as follows: President, L. Grasselor; secretary, Pierre Besancon ; record-
ing secretary, J. V. Fesselet ; treasurer, Frank Graber. This is an organization
composed of European French and is solely for educational and social purposes.
Council St. Jean Baptiste d'Arnerique, No. 304, was organized June 1, 1877.
Its present officers are: President, Roderick Adams; recording secretary, Joseph
Lecomte; financial secretary, Charles R. Charpentier; treasurer, Edmond Thibault.
L'Union Fraternelle Francaise has for officers: President, E. Pouard : finan-
cial secretary, C. Didam ; recording secretary, J. A'. Fesselet; treasurer, C. Gueble.
L'Union St. Jean Baptiste d'Arnerique, Council Laval. No. 189, has the fol-
lowing officers: President. Roderick Adams: recording secretary, Philias Le-
comte ; treasurer, Edmond Thibault.
266 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUGK VALLEY
ITALIAN SOCIETIES
Below is a list of the Italian societies organized in Waterbury, with their
officers :
O. F. D. I. Order, Sons of Columbus, No. 273. President, Charles Sciullo ;
secretary, Joseph Caporaso ; treasurer, Joseph Sciullo.
O. F. D. I. Vittorio Emanuele, No. 351. President, Luigi Lerz; secretary,
Vincenzo Guarini ; treasurer, Giovanni Laudati.
O. F. D. I. Queen Elena Lodge, No. 222. President, Mrs. Lucian Pinto ;
recording secretary, Mrs. Maria A. Carissimi ; financial secretary, Mary G.
Sciullo ; treasurer, Angelina Jamele.
Order Sons of Italy, Loggia Dante Alighieri, No. 66. Venerabile, G. Salva-
tore ; recording secretary, L. Carissimi.
Order Sons of Italy, Loggia Lucitoe, Prov. No. no. Venerabile, Nicola M.
Ventresca ; financial secretary, Nicola R. Ventresca ; treasurer, Francesco Ca-
rissimi.
Society Operia Aviglianese of Soccorso. President, Canio Rosa ; secretary,
L. Lovallo ; treasurer, F. Verrastro.
SWEDISH SOCIETIES
Odin Benefit Association. President, Gustaf R. Lofblad; secretary, Carl
Nelson; cashier, Edward Strom.
Order of Vasa, Gota Lejon Lodge, No. 19, was organized January 20, 1900.
The following are the present officers: President, Gustaf Johnson; secretary,
Franz Johnson; cashier, Eric Larson.
GERMAN SOCIETIES
Below is a list of the German societies of Waterbury :
Concordia Singing Society. President, John E. Weiss ; corresponding secre-
tary, John Kern ; recording secretary, William Bierbaum ; financial secretary
Albert Lampe, Sr. ; treasurer, Wolfgang Schaeffer.
The Concordia is justly termed the leading German singing society in the
state. Twenty-two years ago it elected Hans Saro as its musical director, and
it is due to his masterful training that five first prizes were won by the society at
eight of the state saengerfests. It began its triumphant career at Bridgeport in
1898 with a first prize, following it with similar successes at Union City in 1900
and at Seymour in 1902. It won first prize at the State Saengerfest in Hartford
in 1910 and again at New Haven in 191 2. The society numbers fifty active
members, but in all competitions it is recruited to ninety.
During the war period there have been no saengerfests, but these will be
resumed as soon as conditions are again favorable. In the meantime the society
continues its local concerts.
D. O. H. Gleichheit Manner Lodge, No. 71, was organized October 1, 1887. Its
officers for the present year are : O. B., George Groetzenbach ; secretary, Franz
J. Keller; cashier, Henry Kluttig; treasurer, Charles Kopp.
D. O. H. Steuben Lodge, No. 391, was oganized February 29, 1876. Its
officers at present are: O. B., Nicholas Massonnet; secretary, George Groetzen-
bach; financial secretary, Henry Kluttig; treasurer, Karl Kopp.
D. O. H. True Sisters Lodge, No. 28, at present has the following officers :
O. B., Mrs. Lena Hennegger; secretary, Mrs. Anna Thomas; financial secretary,
Mrs. Charles Yoos ; treasurer, Mrs. Eliza Schmidt.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 267
Dramatic Association of Lyra Singing Society has the following officers:
President, Lonis Jositz ; secretary, August Beutter.
Harmonia Benevolent Association was instituted in 1861. The present offi-
cers are: President, Christian Schlag; secretary, Ferdinand Schroeder; financial
secretary, Joseph Sevetag; treasurer, John Kirschbaum.
1. O. B. B., Melchizedek Lodge, Xo. 200, has the following officers: Presi-
dent, Herman J. Weisman; secretary, Louis L. Simons; treasurer, Samuel A.
Chase.
The Lyra Singing Society has the following officers: President, Louis Jositz;
financial secretary, Alfred Waldheim.
O. D. H. S. Freundschafts Lodge, Xo. 8, was organized March 29, 1887. The
present officers are: President, Edward Koslosky; secretary, Edward Cramer;
financial secretary, Julius Xatush ; treasurer, Fritz Cramer.
The following are the officers of the Turnverein Vorwaerts: President, Fred
erick Cramer ; secretary, Emil Hummel ; treasurer, Albert Hummel.
The Unity Association has the following officers : President, Herman J.
Weisman ; secretary. Louis L. Simons ; treasurer. Samuel A. Chase.
U. O. R. M., Uhland Stamm, Xo. 190, was organized January 28, 1874. The
present officers are : President, Louis Grohs ; secretary. Christian Wiemer ;
cashier, Jacob Baer; treasurer, Richard Selback.
The Waterbury Turnverein has the following officers : President, F.
Schwaller ; corresponding secretary, Karl Wilke ; treasurer, J. Sasloff .
The Workmen's Sick and Death Benefit Fund, Branch Xo. 42, was organized
in 1 89 1. The following are the present officers: President. G. Waldheim; re-
cording secretary, Emil Bierbaum; financial secretary. Charles Blattman; treas-
urer. Frank J. Gatter.
THE LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
WATERBURY BUILDING TRADES COUNCIL
In 1900 a Building Trades Council was formed by the painters, the carpenters,
and the plumbers, which affiliated with the National Building Trades Council in
1902. The latter endured for three years. In 1905 the council applied for a
charter from the Structural Building Trades Alliance and remained with the body
during its existence, after which it became affiliated with the present building
trades department of the American Federation of Labor. Under this parent body
the Waterbury Building Trades Council has really increased in membership.
The eight locals now affiliated with the council are as follows: Carpenters and
Joiners, Xo. 260; Electrical Workers, Xo. 660: Sheet Metal Workers, Xo. 199;
Painters and Decorators, Xo. 491; Plumbers, Steam and Gas Fitters, Xo. 22;
Naugatuck Carpenters and Joiners, Xo. 804; Xaugatuck Painters and Decorators.
No. 418; Xaugatuck Plumbers, Steam and Gas Fitters, Xo. 169.
The council maintains commodious, well-arranged quarters at 127 East Main
Street, consisting of two meeting halls, reading room, and business agent's office.
The relations between the building contractors and the building trades organ-
izations are most cordial. There is a business-like spirit of co-operation existing
between the organizations that brings forth the best result for all concerned,
those having buildings erected coming in for their share of the good results of
this harmony.
The present officers are: President. James Campbell (Painters) ; vice presi-
dent. R. Beardsley (Electrical Workers); recording secretary, II. T. Strickland
268 WATERBURY AND" THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
(Electrical Workers) ; financial secretary, James Johnson (Painters) ; treasurer,
William Byron (Carpenters) ; James P. Donahue, business agent. Meetings are
held on the first and third Wednesdays.
THE CENTRAL LABOR UNION
The Waterbury Central Labor Union was first organized in 1893, then lapsed
and was again instituted June 18, 1902. Twenty local unions were affiliated, the
great majority of which are still in existence and still members of the central
body. In 191 7 the unions affiliated number twenty-eight.
Meetings are held on the first and third Fridays in Building Trades Council
Hall, 127 East Main Street.
The present officers are : President, James E. Corrigan ; vice president, Joseph
C. Baker ; recording secretary, Rensselaer Beadle ; financial secretary, Charles
Westendorfl ; treasurer, James A. Cleland ; sergeant-at-arms, William Hermann ;
business agent, James P. Donahue ; trustees, Thomas Quinn, William McLean,
Charles Mulholland.
WATERBURY LOCAL UNIONS
Allied Printing Trades Council. Joseph Cote, president ; P. J. Lynch, secre-
tary.
Bakers, No. 155, organized February 1, 1901. President, Daniel Finske;
vice president, Daniel Sullivan ; recording secretary, Paul Lauer ; financial secre-
tary, Herbert Waldron ; treasurer, Charles Witzman ; sergeant-at-arms, Joseph
Mussary; label section, Otto T. Dreher; business agent, State Organizer Striby;
trustees, Paul GrafT, Paul Lauer; C. L. U. delegate, Otto T. Dreher.
Barbers, No. 732. President, Louis D. Schiavone ; vice president, P. Madda-
line ; recording secretary, Angelo Possemato ; financial secretary, Patrick J.
Cavanagh ; treasurer, Patrick Mancini ; sergeant-at-arms, Nick Solcids ; trustees,
Joseph Fiore, Ernest Petrone, and Peter D. Cicco.
Brewery Workmen, No. 126. President, William Barton; vice president, Gus
Schmidt ; recording secretary, Aug. Beutter ; financial secretary, John Mantel ;
treasurer, Jos. Schmid ; sergeant-at-arms, Jack Kelly ; business agent, Aug.
Beutter; trustees, Alfred Waldheim, Alfred Seidel, Josef Stiegler.
Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers, organized March 1, 1894. President,
L. E. Stephens ; secretary, Louis Corr ; business agent, Wm. McCarthy.
Carpenters and Joiners, No. 260. Chris Christof eson, president ; Thomas C.
Quinn, secretary; N. J. Engelke, financial secretary; Walter R. Talbot, treasurer;
James P. Donahue, business agent.
Cigarmakers. President, John E. Cunningham ; vice president, M. Cross-
land ; recording secretary, H. Bushman ; financial secretary, Val C. Hahn ; treas-
urer, W. Crossland; sergeant-at-arms, Wm. J. Pierce; business^ agent, H. F.
Varanelli ; trustees. Otto Brodt, Frank Smith and Edward Sanders.
Electrical Workers, No. 660. President, John E. Cunningham; vice presi-
dent, M. Crossland; recording secretary, H. Bushman; financial secretary, Val
C. Hahn; treasurer, W. Crossland; sergeant-at-arms, Wm. J. Pierce; business
agent, H. F. Varanelli ; trustees, Otto Brodt, Frank Smith and Edward Sanders.
Granite Cutters. Ralph Stuart, secretary.
Horseshoers. Charles E. Mann, secretary.
Locomotive Engineers. Brass City Division, No. 867. B. F. O'Neill, secretary.
Machinists, Brass City Lodge, No. 322. Financial secretary, Charles Westen-
dorft; treasurer, John B. Cutty.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 269
Molders, No. 298. Thomas R. Allen, secretary; James A. Loveday, business
agent.
Moving- Picture .Machine Operators, No. 304. President, James Corrigan;
vice president, Nick Melleti; recording secretary, Tim Garren; financial secre-
tary-treasurer, William Jenusaitis; business agent, Abe bandella; trustees, Ralph
Stanco, Steve Sangovimio, John Kuster.
Musicians. President, Kay E. Reilley; vice president, C. E. Loveridge; re-
cording and financial secretary, E. Sherwood Beardslee; treasurer, William Mc-
Lean; sergeant-at-arms, Arthur Martel; business agent, Ray E. Reilley.
Painters, No. 491. President, R. Beadle; vice president, Win. Cook; record-
ing secretary, Michael F. Cody; financial secretary, James Campbell; treasurer,
William Woods; sergeant-at-arms, Irving Cowdry ; business agent, James P.
Donahue ; trustees, A. C. Pratt, Phillip Roy, James Johnston.
Pattern Makers. Robert McDougal, secretary.
Plumbers and Steam Fitters, organized 1894. Present officers : President,
William Coyle ; vice president, James Whitty ; recording secretary, Daniel M.
Cass ; financial secretary-treasurer, William R. Finn ; business agent, James
Donahue.
Pressmen and Assistants, No. 150. President, Louis Schmidt; vice president,
Lew Baker; financial secretary, Frank Gregory; sergeant-at-arms, Joseph M.
Cipriano.
Railroad Trainmen, No. 423. G. H. Turkington, secretary.
Sheet Metal Workers, No. 199. President, L. C. Schiltz; vice president,
Otto Herbst ; secretary, Charles E. Decker ; financial secretary, A. E. Gerard.
Stone-cutters. Patrick Quinlan, secretary.
Street Railway Employees, Division 570. President, Lawson A. Luth ; vice
president, David J. Scully; recording secretary, George B. Degnan; financial
secretary, Thomas Brube ; business agent, A. H. Luth.
Theatrical Stage Employees, No. 88; organized in 1901. President: John
J. Fitzgerald ; vice president, Frank Brown ; recording secretary, Thomas Corri-
gan ; financial secretary, Frank J. Stone; treasurer, James Cleaveland.
Typographical, No. 329, organized November 20, 1898. President, Fred S.
Gorham; vice president, Hubert B. Royce; recording secretary, Leroy E. Bowles;
secretary-treasurer, Patrick J. Lynch.
Foremen's Association of the Plume & Atwood Mfg. Co., organized March
13, 191 1. President, Edward C. Sanderson; secretary, Thomas Mathon ; treas-
urer, P. H. Chabot.
Manhan Aid Association of American Brass Co., Waterbury Brass Branch.
President, Frederick B. Williams; secretary, Edward B. Simpson; treasurer,
C. E. Beardsley.
Scovill Foremen's Association. President, Frank W. Ineson ; secretary, Clar-
ence H. Stilson.
CHAPTER XXII
COMMUNITY EFFORTS, PHILANTHROPY AND REFORMS
THE Y. M. C. A. AND ITS GROWTH FUND FOR NEW BUILDING WAR-TIME WORK
THE WATERBURY BOYS' CLUB — -MR. COMBELLACK's GREAT WORK THE BOY SCOUTS
OF AMERICA THE WATERBURY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND GIRLS' CLUB THE
TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN WATERBURY RESCUE MISSION THE COMMUNITY
CHRISTMAS TREE THE EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT ELISHA LEAVEN WORTH'S
BENEFACTIONS.
The Waterbury Y. M. C. A. is the oldest association in Connecticut and the
fourth oldest in all New England. The first in the United States dates back to
December, 1851, and was started in Boston, Mass., by Thomas Sullivan as repre-
sentative of twenty religious associations.
The original constitution of the Waterbury Y. M. C. A., with the signature of
the charter members and the original business records, have been preserved to
the present day. This association was active from 1858 until 1876 and was
never formally dissolved. A more formal organization was effected in 1883. The
life of the association is divided into two periods: the first of twenty-five years,
ending in 1883, during which the service of all officers and workers was purely
volunteer work. During that period the association had rooms at the corner of
West Main and Leavenworth streets. The original start was made in a room
over what was known as Cone's drug store at the corner of Bank and West Main
streets.
The second period started with the engagement of trained Y. M. C. A. workers,
due to the realization of what an immense power for good in the community
the association would be and the full knowledge of how great a work it had
taken up by the words of its charter, "To promote the physical, mental and moral
welfare of young men."
Then in 1889, after the state convention of the Y. M. C. A. held in Waterbury,
came the building project at a meeting in the parlors of the old Scovill House.
This was followed by a later meeting and the appointment of a committee on
buildings and soliciting.
The building committee, selected from the board of directors, which made its
first report on May 18, 1891, was as follows: L. J. Atwood, H. L. Wade, J. R.
Smith, F. S. Chase, F. B. Rice, E. O. Goss, W. E. Fulton, I. A. Spencer, W. E.
Griggs, C. F. Mitchell, G. W. Beach, J. N. Webb, H. W. Scovill, F. B. Hoadley,
C. S. Chapman, A. C. Mintie, E. D. Welton and A. D. Noble.
The project was then sent along under full sail by the gift of a lot on North
Main Street, part of which is now occupied by a portion of the Hotel Elton. The
gift was made by Henry W. Scovill and his wife. This lot was later sold and
the present site purchased. It was then the Philo Brown property.
The soliciting committee completed its work in December, 1890 ; the revised
plans for the building were accepted March 22, 1892; the contract was awarded
April 21, 1892, and the association moved into the completed building June 1, 1893.
270
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 271
Since that time there have been additions to the structure from time to time
as they were needed, and the money was obtainable. As designed by its far-
sighted founders, it did priceless work in promoting physical, mental, and
moral welfare of the young men of Waterbury, and it may be said that the city
is the better for the association and that the initial investment in dollars had
been realized hundreds of times over in a better humanity.
The rosters of names connected with the various steps in the growth of the
Y. M. C. A. is interesting, as many of the names are to be found woven through
the history of the rise of Waterbury. In the list of the charter members of 1858
are to be found the following: Anson F. Abbott, L. S. Davis, Dwight L. Smith,
F. L. Curtis, George W. Beach, E. L. Beach, E. L. Bronson, Charles Benedict,
D. 1". Maltby, A. M. Blakcsley, and H. W. Keeler. Governor William A. Buck-
ingham was an honorary member.
Among the signers of the document pledging the funds which changed the
association from volunteer ranks in 1883 were the following: F. J. Kingsbury,
J. 'S. Elton. .Airs. M. L. Mitchell, J. M. Burrall, L. J. Atwood, H. W. Scovill,
I. A. Spencer, J. R. Smith, Rev. J. G. Davenport, G. E. Terry, A. A. Benedict,
H. L. Wade, G. C. Hill, C. S. Rodman, and B. G. Bryan.
The names of the incorporators of the association in 1889 were: Imri A.
Spencer, Edward L. Bronson, George H. Benedict, Walter C. Meyers, G. H.
Benham, James S. Elton, John Henderson, Jr., Charles S. Chapman, F. S. Chase,
A. D. Noble, F. E. Stanley, Nelson W. Heater, and William E. Norris.
The war work of the Y. M. C. A. has been a notable feature of its activities.
It began this work in 1916, when the members of the local companies were called
to the armory preparatory to leaving for the border. All the privileges of the
Y. M. C. A. were extended to the men and remained so until their departure and
after their return.
When the United States declared war, and a part of the National Guard
was stationed in W r aterbury, Y. M. C. A. privileges were again extended to the
men occupying the armory. These included the baths, the use of the gymnasium,
and all social privileges.
Later, when a battalion camp of the First Regiment, C. N. G., was estab-
lished at Fairlawn Manor, the Y. M. C. A. immediately pitched a tent there
under the direction of W. A. Smethurst, the physical director. Mr. 'Smethurst
and several assistants took charge of the outgoing mail ; supplied tables and writing
equipment, as well as reading matter, consisting of the latest magazines and
newspapers. A piano and Victor talking machine were provided as a means of
amusement. Baseball suits and balls and bats were given to all men who joined
the teams organized into an inter-company league.
During this time special meetings were held every Sunday afternoon, at which
special music and other features did much to attract the soldiers.
Since the departure of the National Guard, the Home Guard has used the
Y. M. C. A. gymnasium for drilling purposes. The Second District Registration
Board has made the association its headquarters. All of the physical examina-
tions were held in the gymnasium and questions concerning the draft and
exemption rules are answered at the desk.
In connection with the enrollment of drafted men, two gymnasium classes
were conducted by Mr. Smethurst each week to give the men training in setting
up exercises previous to their strenuous camp work. These exercises, and all
the privileges given to army and navy men, have been absolutely free of cost.
To every man already in camp has been given a special ticket, good for
privileges in any Y. M. C. A. in the world. Thus the local Y. M. C. A. has
272 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
opened the doors of Y. M. C. A. buildings in every place where a Waterbury
boy may be stationed.
Rev. Robert K. Brown, pastor of the Second Congregational Church, has
sailed for France, where he will remain for six months, engaged in the war
relief work of the Y. M. C. A. In leaving his home duties for six months, Mr.
Brown is responding to a call which has been issued for 1,000 men to carry on
Y. M. C. A. work in France. He is the first Waterbury man to answer this call.
The Y. M. C. A. has been exceptionally fortunate in its selection of general
secretaries. In 1892, E. N. Folsom, who had been secretary of the Y. M. C. A.
at St. Johnsbury, Vt., came to Waterbury and remained until 1895, when he was
succeeded by T. P. Day. Mr. Day left in 1898 and was succeeded by Robert S.
Ross. It was largely through the efforts of Mr. Ross and his splendid committee
aids that the heavy mortgage on the present building was lifted. In 1909, much
to the regret of his many friends in the association, he resigned to go to the New
Haven Y. M. C. A., and was succeeded by Ernest F. Goodyear. Mr. Goodyear
resigned August 1, 191 2, and was succeeded on September 1, 191 2, by the present
general secretary, William H. Davis.
The membership in 1895 was 375 in addition to 175 sustaining members or
patrons. In November, 1917, the membership is 750, including patrons.
The present officers of the Y. M. C. A. are as follows:
President, W. W. Bowers ; vice president, Levi Wilcox ; treasurer, A. B.
Dayton; recording secretary, Oscar Stahl; general secretary, William H. Davis;
board of directors, E. A. Andersen, W. W. Bowers, C. F. Carpenter, R. L. Coe,
A. N. Colegrove, C. P. Cook, J. H. Curtis, A. B. Dayton, Dr. F. J. Erbe, J. E.
Neily, B. P. Hyde, Theodore Lilley, E. F. Phelan, H. C. Post, R. E. Piatt, Oscar
iStahl, C. H. Stillson, F. B. Webster, Levi Wilcox.
The Woman's Auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. was organized in 1892, and has
been helpful in all the association's endeavors. In 1893 lt supplied the funds for
the furnishing of the dormitories of the new building. It also helped in raising
the money to lift the mortgage on the present structure. It has now a membership
of 150, and its president is Mrs. W. H. Hoffman.
On December 11, 1916, the campaign for a new Y. M. C. A. Building began,
with Charles Sumner Ward, of the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A.
in charge. The object was to raise $350,000 for a new site and building. It was
the first large "intensive" campaign to raise money on the plan which has since
become familiar.
TJie three groups that were effective in collecting the building fund were
headed by John H. Goss, Darragh DeLancey, and Robert L. Coe. Former
President William H. Taft was a speaker at the opening banquet. Practically
half of the fund was raised in twenty-four hours. On December 19, 1916, the
fund was completed.
The site first selected, the Driggs property on West Main Street near Willow,
proved to be unpopular and on October 25, 191 7, the old Baptist Church site on
Grand Street was decided upon for the new Y. M. C. A., and tentative plans have
been made to raise the additional amount needed for the purchase of the ground.
The appointment late in 191 7 of Charles Lee, of Bemis, Tenn., to take charge
of the Industrial Department of the Y. M. C. A., has been fraught with excellent
results. The purpose of this department is to take the Y. M. C. A. program out-
side of its building and to co-operate with all other agencies that are striving to
improve conditions. The English night school opened December 10, 191 7, in the
Sprague School at Waterville for the benefit of foreign workers, was the direct
result of Mr. Lee's work.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 273
Walter A. Smethurst, physical director and his assistant, Willard A. Manor,
have kept the Y. M. C. A. progressing on all indoor and outdoor athletic activities!
The presidents of the Y. M. C. A. since 1895 were as follows: George W.
Beach, Henry W. Scovill, T. R. Hyde, Jr., Benj. L. Coe, Charles D. Nye, John
H. Goss, Clarence P. Cook, and W. W. Bowers.
WILLIAM H. DAVIS
William H. Davis, the present general secretary of the Y. M. C. A., assumed
his position on September 1, 1912.
Mr. Davis is a native of Leicester, Mass., and was graduated from the Y. M.
C. A. Training School (now college), at Springfield, in 1894. He had held
association positions in Greenfield, Mass., Bridgeport, Brooklyn, Portland, Me.,
North Adams, Mass., and Cambridge. He was general secretary in several of
these places, including Greenfield, Bridgeport and Portland, and at North Adams
he reorganized the Y. M. C. A. after activities had been suspended, during hard
times.
He has the distinction of having played basketball on the first team to play
the game in this country, at the Springfield Training School. He also played
football at Springfield and was a half-back on the famous training school organ-
ization known as "Stagg's eleven."
THE WATERBURY BOYS' CLUB
The Boys' Club of Waterbury was planned by John C. Collins of New Haven,
and was established by him in January, 1888. Mr. Collins' idea was to provide
a place where street gamins could find recreation at night and where their interests
would be protected. W. P. Jarrett was the first superintendent of the club, which
started work at 4 Market Place and he remained in charge one year. He was
succeeded by H. N. Hansel, who retired in 1890. The club did not prosper in
those years. It was a new institution and there were many difficulties to over-
come. The public did not understand it, and it threatened to be a failure.
It was at that time that the attention of the directors was called to Nicholas
Combellack, who was conducting a club in New Haven for the divinity students
of Yale College. They visited his institution and were so much impressed with
his ability as a manager that they engaged him September 1, 1890, to superintend
the Waterbury Boys' Club. Mr. Combellack has since been in charge of it and
under his control it has grown to its present importance. It removed to 21 Harri-
son Avenue in September, 1891.
Mr. Combellack when he came to Waterbury found a reading room and library
where boys who belonged to the club congregated at night and read such news-
papers and books as best pleased them. They were not particularly cleanly, so
he established a bath room and insisted that every member of the club should
bathe at least once a week. This was a great improvement, and the boys soon
learned cleanly habits. Mr. Combellack then added a little gymnasium, buying
dumbbells and Indian clubs and invited the boys to exercise their muscles. This
proved popular.
No provision had been made to house the boys who came in from the street.
They were obliged, when the club rooms closed, to return to the pavement and
find shelter where they could. Mr. Combellack told the directors that they should
furnish beds for the boys who had no homes, and with their sanction he rented
the floor above the library and fitted up a dormitory in the winter of [892. He
Vol. 1—18
274 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
found that Waterbury was the goal of many runaway boys from other towns who
were in the habit of sleeping in freight cars and railroad yards or wherever they
could find a place. He said that such boys should be taken to the club rooms and
he organized his club members into a corps to search for and bring runaways to
the club where they could have shelter until returned to their families. In this
way, many runaways who might have been led to criminal lives have been re-
stored to their homes or put to work at useful occupations.
The dormitory naturally led to the establishment of a dining-room and
kitchen, and then Mr. Combellack provided for the improvement of the boys' minds
by organizing a class to teach them the rudiments. As the membership increased,
he enlarged the gymnasium and engaged instructors to teach them in military
drill, fencing and singing. The club was incorporated under the general joint
stock law in May, 1895, Douglas F. Maltby being the first president.
The following were the officers in 1897: President, D. F. Maltby; vice presi-
dent, D. L. Smith ; secretary, A. C. Mintie ; treasurer, B. G. Bryan ; superin-
tendent, Nicholas Combellack; directors, D. F. Maltby, A. C. Mintie, C. S. Chap-
man, C. F. Mitchell and D. L. Smith.
After occupying rooms at No. 4 Market Place until September, 1891, the club
was located at 21 Harrison Avenue.
The new home of the Boys' Club on Cottage Place, next to the Federal Build-
ing, was opened January 9, 1906. The club proper occupies the second floor.
The office is at the top of the first flight of stairs. The entrance, as well as all of
the woodwork of the interior, is finished in quartered oak. The quartered oak
office with its glass panels must be passed before any other portion of the club
can be visited.
Opening out of this office is the private office of the superintendent. The
directors' room is immediately in front of the private office. The three rooms
occupied by Superintendent Combellack and family are located in the front of
the building.
In the rear of the office is the dormitory in two galleries opening into the game
room. Each room is fitted up with bed, dresser, clothes tree and chair. The large
dining-room, kitchen and club parlors are to be found on the third floor. Read-
ing rooms and class rooms are also to be found on this floor.
Baths, shower and tub, are liberally sprinkled over the building. A large
swimming tank in the basement affords one of the best indoor baths in the state.
It has a raised wall all around it to prevent accidents. No boy can be pushed
into the pool against his wish without considerable exertion on the part of the
pusher.
The first floor, rear, is fitted up with a combination gymnasium and game
room. There are three rooms here which can at once be thrown into one for
entertainments, if occasion requires. A stage has also been fitted up in the
gymnasium.
The building was erected and furnished throughout by generous friends of
the institution. The bedrooms each bear the name of its donor or donors. A
full list of these patrons and patronesses follows: Dr. William A. Goodrich,
John C. Sherwood "in memory of Captain Colby," Miss Edith Kingsbury "in
memory of her brother," the Young Women's Guild of Trinity Church, Dr. E. J.
Abbott, a friend, L. W. Street, Miss E. D. Warner and Mrs. Julia V. W. Spencer
"in memory of a brother," F. S. Chase's children, J. B. Burrall, Fletcher Judson.
Mrs. T. I. Morton "in memory of her grandson," the Misses Katherine A. and
Sarah J. Prichard, two rooms "in memory of David Prichard," Charles P. Kel-
logg, Miss Hughes, Miss Annie Cables, Mrs. W. H. Holmes "in memory of
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 275
Dr. Walter Hamlin Holmes," .Mrs. George W. .Minor, Dr. W. O. Beecher, E. A.
Bass, Levi Wilcox, Miss Burrall, A. E. Rice, a friend.
The secret of success at the Boys' Club has been the aim of Mr. Combellack
to make the institution as homelike as possible. For the comfort and entertain-
ment of the hoys there now are the gymnasium, the bowling alleys, pool tables,
dance hall and private orchestra, moving pictures, shower baths and the large
swimming tank, private baths, a large dining-room, dramatic club, debating club,
library equipped with 2,500 books, sitting room, game room and reception room.
Air. Combellack runs the club to mjake both ends meet by turning out the best
meals and affording the best rooming conditions available in this city for the
price. The rates differ, the price being regulated according to the position held
by the boy or young man. Prices run from two to five dollars a week. There is
a homelike atmosphere which appeals to homeless boys and there is liberty for
all members that the boys naturally prefer the club rather than a boarding house,
which offers no such choice of occupations and recreations. Boys who live with
their parents patronize the club extensively, enjoying the privileges of the game
room, gymnasium, tank and dance hall.
The first improvement on the new building was the establishment in 1913 of
fourteen dormitories in the annex, a building next to the main club building and
formerly the old Steele home. This is under the supervision of a competent
matron. The rooms are well furnished.
The next need for larger quarters was felt in the gymnasium. At the time
the new building was put up, the "gym'' was considered large enough to meet the
club's needs for years to come. It was not until 191 3 that the club felt able to
undertake the extensive improvements necessary for the enlarging of the "gym."
By knocking out the south wall and raising the roof eight feet, it was possible
to enlarge the floor space from jo by 50 feet to 50 by 60 feet, and also to install
a running track six feet wide, with twenty-seven laps to the mile.
In his report of 1917, the superintendent speaks as follows of the work:
"This has been a year of prosperity for the Boys' Club, and we have felt its
results. We have cleared our indebtedness, paying off a debt of $18,000, so that
we are now practically free from debt.
''Our membership has kept up to 1,000, its usual number. The gymnasium
classes have been very popular, as they always are. The wireless class has a
large membership, something very gratifying in these days when it has become
necessary to prepare for all possible emergencies.
"Our Sunday night pictures and lectures have steadily grown in popularity.
We have shown the Paramount pictures and our average attendance has been
600. This branch of our work has been very greatly helped by the acquisition of
a new Powers moving picture machine, $400 toward the cost of the machine, $602,
being the gift of a friend of the club, and the balance paid by the boys them-
selves. The boys have also purchased a new player piano and paid for the picture
films, raising the money by collections among themselves and their friends. The
I'.ronson Library has placed a number of interesting books in our club library,
as a loan library for the boys, and many books have been taken out to be read in
the homes. Our club savings bank has received a large number of deposits.
The endowment fund, which should eventually amount to S50.000 in order to
place the Boys' Club on a permanent basis has grown to $10,000 through the
generosity of the late Mrs. Julia V. Warner Spencer."
In 1908 Air. Combellack organized the Watt rbury Boys' Club Band, which
was soon so well trained that in the following year it gave concerts in Hamilton
Park. To begin, there were twenty-four boys in the band, ranging in age from
276 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Edward Osphalat, the 8-year-old drum major, to boys of sixteen. In 191 1 it
was changed to the Waterbury Boys' Club Military Band, and a junior band for
training was added.
It has visited neighboring cities, and is a part of all parades in Waterbury.
The present membership ranges from twenty-four to thirty.
The following table gives a very good idea of the club's activities. It is a
statement for 1916 and includes the savings bank statement:
RECEIPTS FOR 1916
Balance $ 1,901.50
Miscellaneous 218.53
Interest on money in bank 75-59
Receipt from Wade Endowment 95.00
Gifts for special purposes 2,325.00
City Basket Ball League 82.79
Athletic meet 52.10
Band 808.00
Pool 163.75
Loan 202.88
Board 10,798.65
Lodgings 3,684.25
Memberships 410.30
Club rents 1,178.15
Entertainments 7 I 4~ 2 5
General gifts 3,244.00 '
Special gifts for debt 5,450.00
Total $31,404.74
EXPENDITURES FOR I916
Dining hall and kitchen $ 8,823.42
Bedrooms 834.53
Janitors 472.16
Salaries 2,669.50
Furnishings 908.73
Office 1 13.54
Lighting 7°7-49
Heating 1 ,529.69
Expense gift to Doctor Denman 300.00
Christmas entertainment 34-5°
Amateur League 7 2 -79
Liquid soap 44- I0
Traveling expense, physical director 58.00
Incidentals 667.39
Tax on loan 62.80
Athletic Association 5 2 -io
Athletic Association 1,291.68
Insurance 5°°4 I
Interest 7 8 5-°°
Repairs 1,215.12
WATER BURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 277
Entertainments 1,435.00
1 land 937-40
Loan 390.45
Water rent I 95-3 ( J
Building fund 6,224.21
Balance 2,371.05
Total $31,404.74
Boys' savings bank account for 1916; number of deposits 47; amount de-
posited, $178.35 : amount withdrawn, $176.10; balance on hand, $2.25.
The officers for 1917 are: President, Cornelius Tracy; secretary, W. J. Lar-
kin, Jr.; treasurer, Charles F. Mitchell.
These, together with F. S. Chase, Hugh L. Thompson, Truman S. Lewis,
Charles P. Kellogg and John S. Dye, form the board of directors.
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
The Boy Scouts of America established a Waterbury Council in September,
1913. Prior to that in 191 1 E. L. White had organized a Boy Scouts Troop at
the Y. M. C. A., consisting of twenty-five boys. This formed the nucleus of the
Boy Scout work in the city. This troop was superseded in January, 1912, by
anotber organization called Troop I, with E. L. White as scout master. This
troop met at St. John's Parish, as it was composed largely of boys from that
church. In June, 1912, Troop 2 was organized at the First Methodist Church
with C. F. Northrop as scout master.
The first officers of the council were: Julius Maltby, president; W. J. Shana-
han, secretary and treasurer, and E. L. White, scout commissioner.
The work of the council consisted in extending the work, in organizing new
troops and in supervising troops already organized. After Troop 9 was organ-
ized it became apparent that the scout commissioner needed assistance, and C. F.
Northrop .was appointed deputy scout commissioner in September, 191 5. During
191 5 Troops 10 to 21 were organized, giving a total membership at the end of
191 5 of approximately three hundred. Mr. Northrop now gave part time to the
work on salary. In April, 19 16, a financial campaign for funds was begun to
raise $12,000 to continue the work for three years. This was the first of the
financial campaigns along these lines conducted in Waterbury, and instead ot
$12,000, the amount raised was $24,000.
Troop 31, organized at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church, was the last one
instituted up to November 1, 19 17, but in December five new troops were to be
in shape for organization. The total membership December 1, 191 7, was 750.
The officers of the council now are: Darragh deLancey, president; C. H. W.
Newton, T. F. Carmody, H. H. Heminway, vice presidents; C. E. Spencer, Jr.,
treasurer; E. S. Sanderson, scout commissioner; C. F. Northrop, secretary and
scout executive.
The Waterbury Scouts have been a great aid in all of the war work, assist-
ing particularly in both Liberty Loan campaigns and in co-operating with the
Red Cross.
The Boy Scout movement seeks to help boys on leaving school to escape the
evils of "blind alley" occupations, that is, such work as gives the boy a mere
wage for the moment, but leaves him stranded without any trade or handicraft
to pursue when he is a man and so send him as a recruit to the great army of
unemployed, and what is worse, the unemployable.
278 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Scoutcraft includes instruction in first aid, life saving, tracking, signaling,
cycling, Nature study, seamanship, campcraft, woodcraft, chivalry and all of the
handicrafts. No expensive equipment is required. All that is needed is the out-
of-doors, a group of boys and a competent leader. By combining wholesome,
attractive, out-door activities with the influence of the Scout oath and law, the
movement develops character.
In scouting, the boy does not stand still. The opportunity and incentive for
progress is always at hand.
He becomes a tenderfoot, and then a second class Scout, and then a first class
Scout. After this, the whole sphere of the Scout program is made available by
the boy's own application in qualifying himself to pass the test for the various
merit badges.
There are now among the Boy Scouts, a number who have become expert in
making fire by friction, that is by the "Bow" method of rubbing sticks. Fire by
friction was first made in Waterbury scout ranks by Raymond Bedell, formerly
of Troop 2, now assistant scout master in Troop i, at Oakville. His fastest
time was 35% seconds. Since then in local and state competitions the record
has gone steadily down. James Walker of Troop 11, Bunker Hill, broke the
world's record for Scouts in a meet at Bristol, March 3, 1917, making it in 13%
seconds. Shortly after in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Athletic Club of this city
he lowered this record to 12 seconds flat. In the fall scout meet held at Hamil-
ton Park, October 6th, he again broke his record, lowering it to 11 seconds. He
will soon in all likelihood make the record 10 seconds or better, as he has already
done this in practice. Paul Steere and Jos. DeMunda of Troop 1 1 have both
done faster than 12 seconds.
In the knot-tying contest Waterbury holds the state record, John Kitchenka
of Troop 3 having made it in 18 seconds.
Scout meets are held regularly on February 8th, the anniversary of the scout
movement, and usually a state meet is held about February 22d. It is also
customary to hold local and state meets in October. In the last two state meets
Waterbury outpointed all other cities in the state combined.
THE WATERBURY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND GIRLS' CLUB
The Waterbury Industrial School and Girls' Club, founded to meet a great
social need in 1865, is still working along the same general lines of helpfulness
outlined by those far-seeing men and women in the earlier years of Waterbury's
history. In 1890, through the generosity of Elisha Leavenworth, who gave it
$10,000 toward a building fund, it opened the beautiful building on Central
Avenue. In 1895 its charter was amended so that the corporation could hold
property to the amount of $100,000.
On the death of Mr. Leavenworth in 191 1, in addition to a gift of $25,000,
the Waterbury Industrial School Association was bequeathed the Leavenworth
house and part of the property touching upon the original site of the school itself.
The house was moved back from West Main Street, placed so as to front upon
Park Place, renovated, and so fitted up that ten children, besides three boarders,
could be accommodated in it.
The house is now used as a home for the teachers and is in charge of the
director, Miss Margaret M. Goodwin.
In 19 14 the playground, which was part of the old Leavenworth garden, was
opened and has been one of the most successful of the school's activities.
For small children there are now daily classes in cooking, sewing, knitting,
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 279
embroidery, nursing and housekeeping. These are held from 4 to 5 130 each after-
noon during eight months of the year. The little ones pay 5 cents a month for
this privilege.
Similar classes arc held in the evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 for girls who work
during the day. For this privilege, the girls pay $1.00 a year. Twice a month
there are social evenings and quite often during the season there are amateur
dramatic performances and dances.
There are five teachers regularly employed and twenty-live volunteer teachers.
( >ne paid employee devotes all her time to the bathing facilities. These are
showers and tub baths which are patronized daily by the children from poorer
families and from the congested districts.
The officers in 1893 were: President, Mrs. S. E. Harrison; vice president,
Mrs. A. S. Chase; secretary, Mrs. G. C. Hill; treasurer, Katherine L. Peck;
prudential committee, Mrs. Rufus E. Smith, Katherine L. Peck, Elisha Leaven-
worth, ]•'. B. Rice, A. S. Chase.
The officers for 1917 are: President, Miss Katherine D. Hamilton; vice
president, Mrs. Katherine L. Peck; treasurer, Mrs. Nelson A. Pomeroy; secre-
tary. Mrs. Edyth A. Allen; auditor, Mrs. Albert D. Field; assistant auditor, Miss
Delia Field; prudential committee, Mrs. Katherine D. Hamilton, Mrs. Katherine
L. Peck, Otis S. Northrop, Arthur R. Kimball, John H. Goss.
The income of the association is derived from private donations, an endow-
ment fund, and from the fees from pupils.
To make it thoroughly effective, the work is not being carried on simply
within the school, but all those who are actively engaged as teachers and assist-
ants are making it a part of their work to visit the homes of their pupils, thus
taking a personal interest in each child and gaining an insight into what that
child most needs to make her a good American woman.
At the present time there is a total of ten cooking classes — five afternoon and
five evening classes, and also two supper clubs. These supper clubs are one of
the new departures in the school work. They are made up of the older girls
who work during the daytime.
Because of their novelty and departure from the usual run of cooking classes,
the supper clubs are specially interesting, but there is no lack of interest or of
enthusiasm in just the plain cooking classes. The afternoon classes are made
up of girls between the ages of eight and fourteen years. No girl who takes
cooking in the public schools is supposed to take cooking at the industrial school.
The classes begin with the most simple recipes and gradually work up through
the harder and more difficult concoctions until they are able to master bread,
cake, pie, etc.
The tasks which are set before the little workers are the very homely tasks
of washing old tins, scrubbing sinks, cleaning stoves and the like, but the children
enter into them with a zest that accomplishes wonders. To keep up this interest,
the leaders are having the children make scrapbooks in which, by means of pic-
tures cut from magazines, they arrange kitchens to suit their own tastes. Thus
they learn how to plan with an eye for saving needless steps. In their visits to
the homes of the children, the leaders see wherein the lessons taught at school
are applied to home conditions and this transplanting into the homes what has
been learned outside is unconsciously passed from the daughters to the mothers,
and before long it becomes the customary way of doing things in that child's home.
280 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
WATERBURY INSTITUTE OF CRAFT AND INDUSTRY
The Waterbury Institute of Craft and Industry, known until 1908 as the
Young Women's Friendly League, is now in its twenty-eighth year of usefulness.
It was organized in 1889 and incorporated in 1893. I ts teachers are in charge of
Miss Harriet Goddard Brown, and most of them are graduates of Drexel Insti-
tute, Philadelphia. These instructors, whose departments give some idea of the
nature of the institution's work, are as follows:
Miss Helen C. Palmatary, director of the school of housekeeping; instructor
in cookery and household economics ; Miss Helen J. Long, director and instructor
of the courses in domestic art ; Miss E. Lillian Gillespie, instructor of the courses
in domestic art; instructor of the courses in handicraft; Mrs. Albert H. Fassen-
der, instructor of the courses in pillow-lace-making; Miss Phyllis D. Clarke,
director and instructor of physical training; Miss Helene Cecil Tuttle, director
and instructor of the courses in expression and dramatic art; Arthur Schuckai,
director of the institute chorus.
The institution has now approximately two hundred pupils. It is supported
by the tuition of the students and by private donations. The institute owns its
building on Leavenworth Street.
Its officers in 1917 are: President, Anna L. Ward; vice presidents, Mrs.
Frederick D. Buckley, Mrs. Arthur Reed Kimball, Mrs. Edward T. Root, Mrs.
Otis S. Northrop, Mrs. Frederick Wilcox, Mrs. Jay H. Hart; treasurer, Floren-
tine H. Hayden; recording secretary, Ellen R. Townsend; auditor, George E.
Judd ; advisory board, Mrs. Frederick M. Peasley, James S. Elton, Otis S.
Northrop, Irving H. Chase, Archer J. Smith, Henry L. Rowland.
For nineteen years its annual exhibitions have given the people of Waterbury
a fair conception of the extent and thoroughness of its work. On June 7, 1917,
at its exhibition for this year, its new department in dietetics prepared meals in
accordance with charts defining the number of calories necessary to sustain life
according to the nature of occupation, height, weight, etc.
In the department of domestic art Miss Helen J. Long, the director, ex-
hibited an extensive array of wearing apparel, including suits, dresses, lingerie,
waists, skirts and hats. Attractive collar and cuff sets made from odd material
were an interesting feature of the display.
Hand work in the form of beaded work, embroidery and fancy stitching were
in evidence on many of the dresses.
The feature of the display was the handicraft department, containing numer-
ous exhibitions of loom work, including rugs and table covers of the most
attractive styles. There are nine looms at the institute, and all were used con-
stantly during the past year. Miss DeNeergaard, the instructor, had also on
hand many pieces of hand tooled leather and basketware, trays and other articles
in which block printed silk, an old industry revived, is used. There were also
splendid exhibits of pillow lace making, made under the supervision of Mrs.
Fassender.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN WATERBURY
The temperance movement in Waterbury was at its height in 1894 and 1895.
There was then in existence the Evergreen Temple of Honor No. 16, with
George S. Butler as president, a branch of a national temperance association.
This was dissolved in 1897. The Good Templars had one lodge known as
"Fraternity," which remained in existence from 1894 to 1899. Its first president
WATER BURY AXI) THE XAUGATUCK VALLEY 281
was William Loncka. The Good Templars in 1904 established Oscar 11 Lodge
No. 50, with Andrew Olson as its first president. It still exists with a member-
ship of nearly a hundred and with A. M. Anderson as its chief official and Carl
G. Fogelberg and Andrew Munson as secretary and treasurer, respectively.
The Sons of Temperance also had a brief existence here, with High Rock
Division, which began its work in 1894 and dissolved in 1898. Its first presiding
officer was Arthur Hall.
The most determined campaign along temperance lines was waged during
this period by the Catholic societies. In 1895 St. Joseph's Total Abstinence
Society was organized and has been in existence ever since. Its meetings were
at the outset held in St. Patrick's Hall and on every second Sunday in the month
a mass meeting open to the public was arranged. It had its offices in the old
Lilley Block and its first officers were : President, J. J. McDonald ; vice president,
J. F. McKnight ; recording secretary, P. F. Shields; financial secretary, Thomas
Luddy ; treasurer, D. J. Casey.
Its present officers are: President, Edward Dowling; recording secretary,
M. H. Scully; financial secretary, William F. Guilfoile; treasurer, Jeremiah
Dillane. The society now has its own clubhouse at East Main and Maple streets.
St. Patrick's Total Abstinence Society with Father J. H. Duggan as spiritual
head and John F. Galvin as president, was organized in 1895 an d did splendid
work for some years, merging later into other church activities along similar lines.
The St. Aloysius Total Abstinence Society existed from 1896 to 1905, when
it also merged into another similar church body.
The St. Francis Xavier Temperance Cadets were organized March 27, 1897,
and continue to be a splendid influence for good in the community. The present
officers are : President, Raymond Bergin ; secretary, James Kelly ; director, Rev.
James J. Egan.
The Waterbury Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society,
which was organized February 21, i860, was a flourishing organization in 1895
with the following officers: President, Henry R. Byrnes; vice president, James
Meagher; recording secretary, John Thompson; financial secretary, William C.
Keenan; corresponding secretary, William Duncan; chaplain and treasurer, Rev.
Hugh Treanor; Marshal, James Eustace. This was a powerful organization
which had made Father Matthew's cause its own, and its meetings on each
second Sunday in St. Patrick's Hall were largely attended. It was active in its
work until 1905, when its duties were assumed by other church bodies.
The Murphy Temperance Club, of which Adelbert F. Chandler was presi-
dent, the Young Men's Temperance Union, J. F. Mix, president, and the Tem-
perance Alliance of which Rev. W. P. Elsdon was the head, had brief but active
existences during 1895 and 1896.
From 1895 to 1899 the Helping Hand Society of the Second Congregational
Church held public temperance gatherings.
There was also a Reform Club which, under the direction of Rev. R. A.
Nichols, held Sunday afternoon temperance meetings at Jacques Theater.
Practical work in the temperance cause was done by the Union Rescue Mis-
sion, a movement in which the men and women of the whole city took an interest.
It began its labors in 1895. Its first officials were: President, Aaron A. Bene-
dict; vice president, Mrs. F. F. Cook; secretary, Rev. J. G. Davenport; treasurer,
A. C. Mintie; board of management, Revs. W. P. Elsdon, Joseph Ander-
son, T. G. Davenport, G. Eldridge, F. S. Townsend, C. Pike ; Messrs. E. S. Robbins,
A. C. Mintie, A. A. Benedict, J. N. Webb, G. H. Woodruff, T. Patchen;
Mesdames F. F. Cook, F. L. Allen, O. E. Brower, A. C. Peck, N. Jenkins, G. O.
282 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Robbins, J. H. Tripp, K. H. Simons, T. D. Bassett, R. M. Strong, W. A. Holgate,
W. Berkeley; executive committee, the above named officers and Mrs. G. O.
Robbins, Rev. Frank S. Townsend, Mrs. R. M. Strong; committee on superin-
tendent, Rev. J. G. Davenport, E. S. Robbins; committee on rooms, A. C. Mintie,
Mrs. G. O. Robbins, Rev. C. Pike, E. S. Robbins, Mrs. K. H. Simons.
In 1898 it had established itself at 267 South Main Street with John E.
Hendsey as superintendent. In 1900 Edgar Forrest was superintendent, but the
city in 1901 took up the charitable end of the work and the mission was dis-
continued.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union has been a quiet but consistent
and persistent advocate of the cause in Waterbury for much over a quarter of a
century. In 1895 its meetings were held at 267 South Main Street in the rooms
of the Union Rescue Mission. Its officers then were: President, Mrs. F. F.
Cock , vice presidents, Mrs. Asa Peck, Mrs. N. Jenkins, Mrs. G. O. Robbins,
Mrs. J. H. Tripp, Mrs. K. H. Simons, Mrs. R. A. 'Nichols, Mrs. W. A. Holgate,
Mrs. C. S. Gaylord, Mrs. G. S. Fields; recording secretary, Mrs. O. E. Brower;
acting corresponding secretary, Mrs. F. F. Cook ; treasurer, Mrs. F. L. Allen.
These represented practically all of the Protestant churches in the city.
From 1900 to 1903 the W. C. T. U. met in Alliance Hall. In 1903 the organ-
ization moved to 149 South Main and in 1906 it went to 47 East Main Street.
Its present officers are as follows : President, Mrs. Frank F. Cook ; record-
ing secretary, Mrs. Charles Wickwire; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Edwin
Morgan; treasurer, Mrs. James Angrave ; Mrs. W. Schofield, city missionary;
directors, Mrs. V. M. Neeld, Mrs. Wm. Holgate, St., Mrs. Edw. Morgan, Mrs.
N. Jenkins, Mrs. Wm. Thompson, Mrs. Milton Wittier.
Mrs. Wm. Thompson is chairman of the medal contest and supervises an
annual competition among school children for the best recitation or essay on a
temperance topic.
THE EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT
The movement for early closing of business houses has been a continuous
agitation beginning with the first organization of business men in the community.
One of the first accomplishments, and this dates back to 1900, was the agreement
to keep stores open on only two nights of each week, Wednesday and Saturday.
Prior to that, there had been three nights of work, including Tuesday, in many
if not most of the stores of the city.
The efforts of the present chamber of commerce were for five years directed
to a 9 o'clock closing on both Wednesday and Saturday.
In April, 1917, the business men's branch of the chamber of commerce finally
managed to get the merchants together for a conference. At this the signatures
were obtained, and the 9 o'clock closing, both Wednesday and Saturday, has been
in effect ever since. There are but few stores outside of the agreement.
The movement for a Tuesday afternoon holiday during the summer months
was agitated for years, but was only spasmodically carried out by a few mer-
chants until 1908, when, under the chairmanship of H. W. Langley, a committee
visited all of the merchants and secured their consent to the inauguration of the
half holiday in 1908.
From July to Labor Day, the Tuesday half holiday has been the rule. A
fpw of the hardware stores and others, however, give the Saturday half holiday.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 283
THE COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS TREES
Waterbur) was one of the first cities in the country rind the first in Connecticut
to establish the custom of the Community Christmas Tree. This was due to
Rev. John X. Lewis, who. in 1913, collected funds privately and put up a tree on
The Green. The city, through Mayor Scully, took up the idea next year and
since then it has been an annual event.
A loose organization known as the Christmas Tree Committee exists, which is
called together by the mayor annually and ordered to find a tree and make
arrangements for its decoration and dedication. The park and street superin-
tendents furnish labor and supervise the cutting and erection of the tree. The
electric light company furnishes free current for the lighting and the tree is wired
free by local electrical contractors. The printing offices furnish song sheets and
usually there has been a volunteer chorus of school children, trained by the
music supervisor, to lead the thousands who assemble in a program of Christ-
mas and patriotic music. A bugle sounds, and the lights are turned on to music
by a band. All this takes place annually on Christmas Eve. It was decided in
[917 not to bring out the school children in a body as the weather sometimes
makes the affair in the nature of a hardship for the youngsters. In 1916 the tree
was erected in Library Park, but in 191 7 it was on The Green once more.
The committee organized in 1917 by electing Rev. John N. Lewis chairman
and William J. Pape, clerk.
There is a project to plant a growing spruce or pine on The Green so that
Waterbury will have a permanent Christmas tree and not have to ravage the
woods anew each year.
elisha Leavenworth's benefactions
The will of Elisha Leavenworth, made October 17, 1910, the year prior to
his death, has become an historic document for Waterbury. He was, perhaps, the
greatest of the city's philanthropists, and had during his life time given much
toward the betterment and the beautirication of Waterbury. The gifts, the first
of the donations to the Mattatuck Historical Society and to the Waterbury In-
dustrial School and Home for Girls, are all mentioned in their proper chapters.
The will itself after many individual bequests to relatives and others, gave
$15,000 to the Petersburg, Ya., Home for the Sick. Its Waterbury public bequests
were as follows :
To the Waterbury Plospital he bequeathed $io,coo for general purposes and
$10,000 for the purpose of maintaining ''a free bed in said hospital, to be known
as the Cynthia Leavenworth free bed, in memory of my deceased wife, for the
use of such persons as may be designated by the executive committee of said
hospital, the same to be to it and its successors forever."
His bequest to the Waterbury Industrial School was $45,000, of which
$25,000 was to be invested and the income only to be used for the general pur-
poses of the school. The remaining $20,000 was given to the school "to provide
an income which is to be used solely for the purpose of providing fuel for the
needy of said Waterbury, and in case it shall not all he needed for the purpose,
for the purpose of giving aid in the payment of rent for such of the needy of
said Waterburv, without regard to nationality or religious creed, as the executive
officers of said school may designate."
To the Mattatuck Historical Society he gave $90,000 of which $40,000 was
to be used for site and building and the income of the remainder to aid in defray-
ing the general purposes of the society.
284 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
He bequeathed $50,000 to the City of Waterbury, the income to be used "for
the purpose of purchasing equipment and supplies for and otherwise maintaining
a manual training school or instruction in manual training in any of the public
schools of said City of Waterbury."
His executors, Edwin S. Hunt and John R. Clayton, were empowered to
erect "on the westerly end of the Public Square or Green, in Waterbury, a statue
to Benjamin Franklin, with such necessary surroundings, railings and pavement
as to them, my executors, shall seem wise and proper, and to expend for the
purpose a sum not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000)."
To the First Congregational Society of Waterbury he left $5,000.
To the Boys' Club of Waterbury, $2,500.
To the Waterbury Institute of Crafts and Industry, $3,000.
To the Day Nursery of Waterbury, $3,coo.
To the Riverside Cemetery Association, $5,000.
To the Southmayd Home for Old Ladies, $20,000.
To the Silas Bronson Library, $10,000.
For the improvement and maintenance of Chase Park, $5,000.
To the Connecticut Children's Aid Society of Newington, Conn., $3,000.
To the Mount Carmel, Conn., Children's Iiome, $3,000.
To St. Mary's Hospital, Waterbury, $5,000.
He finally bequeathed "the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real and
personal, wheresoever situated, in equal shares, one share to The Colonial Trust
Company as aforesaid in trust for the City of Waterbury for the purposes and
on the terms and conditions mentioned in Article Twenty-Ninth of this will
(manual training school), one share to said Southmayd Home, one share to said
Waterbury Hospital, one share to said Waterbury Industrial School, and one
share to said Mattatuck Historical Society."
CHAPTER XXIII
CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS, BUSINESS, SOCIAL. PROFESSIONAL
AND PATRIOTIC
THE WATERBURY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ITS BEGINNING AS THE MERCHANTS'
ASSOCIATION THE WATERBURY CLUB ITS NEW HOME THE COUNTRY CLUB
WATERBURY DRIVING ASSOCIATION AUTOMOBILE CLUB NATURALIST CLUB
THE ELKS CLUB OTHER SOCIAL CLUBS PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
WOMEN'S CLUBS AND SOCIETIES — ATHLETIC AND SPORTING ORGANIZATIONS THE
G. A. R. AND W. R. C. WATERBURY's REPRESENTATION IN STATE PATRIOTIC
SOCIETIES SARSFIELD CLUB.
The Waterbury Chamber of Commerce, which is just now learning to walk
as a commercial and civic organization with a permanent headquarters and per-
manent secretary, is the outgrowth of a series of associations of business men,
dating back to the commercial beginnings of the city. As a chamber of commerce
it is only four years old and until February 26, 191 7, had no permanent office.
In May, 1897, Waterbury merchants took steps to organize an association.
On Thursday, May 20, 1897, in the former Congress Hall, in the Moriarty Block,
the first meeting of the Waterbury Merchants' Association was called to order
with John B. Mullings as temporary chairman. The experience of the New
Haven Retail Merchants' Association inspired this movement and the meeting
was addressed by Messrs. Howe, Hunn, Hart, Johnson and O'Connor of New
Haven, with such effect that the meeting immediately proceeded to effect per-
manent organization. .
The records of the association show that the first officers were John B.
Mullings, president; John Moriarty, first vice president; Thomas D. Barlow,
second vice president; Charles E. Hall, secretary; Edward Fitzgerald, treasurer.
The first directors were, L. F. Haase, Isadore Chase, J. G. Cutler, W. A. Guilfoile,
F. G. Humphrey, Jacob Kaiser, Thomas H. Hewitt, C. F. Trott, W. D. Upson,
Chas. Boylan.
The charter members of this association were the following :
The Upson & Singleton Company, clothiers; Apothecaries Hall Company;
C. R. Russell, agricultural implements; C. A. Bailey, meat and groceries; Spen-
cer & Pierpont, groceries ; Frank Miller & Company, coal dealers ; Fred E. Gill-
mor, clothier and hatter ; Woodford & Allen, boots and shoes; A. F. Taylor, house
painter; Waterbury Grocery Company; W. Easton Smith, crockery; Geo. W.
Minor, plumber; C G. Belden, tailor; Alfred A. Adt, photographer; S. M. Kern,
hatter and furnisher; Boston Furniture Company; Turnbull & Company, dry
goods; Curran's, dry goods; Geo. Harrington, cigar manufacturer; N. S. Snow,
fish market; T. P. Hutchinson, shoe store; E. W. Hale, news dealer and stationer;
W. H. Lowe, real estate; Martin Bergen, stationer and undertaker; Waterbury
Blank Book Company; Maier Kaiser, clothier; Reid & Llughes, dry goods; Con-
Ion Bros., dry goods ; Jas. Coughlin, meat market ; Trott Baking Company, bakery ;
Connecticut Boot and Shoe Company ; LI. G. Dodge & Company, boots and shoes*;
285
286 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The L. F. Haase Company, interior decorators ; Chas. Ochsner, meat market ;
C. H. Hart, real estate; The H. W. Keeler Company, plumbers; John Moriarty,
furniture ; J. G. Twining, furniture ; John J. Geraghty, boots and shoes ; Lake &
Strobel, jewelers; City Lumber & Coal Company; Jones, Morgan & Company,
clothiers; John McElligott, coal and wood; The Barlow Bros. Company, plumb-
ers and gas fitters ; The Driggs & Smith Company, pianos ; The Upson Jewelry
Company; E. J. Finn, boots and shoes; Lucy & Fitzgerald, shoe dealers; E. G.
Kilduff, clothier ; Henry Schwartz, for the Rochester Clothing Company ; W. A.
Guilfoile, meat market; Isadore Chase, millinery; Wm. Riether, meat market;
J. G. Cutler Company, harnessmakers ; Chas. Boylan, York State Butter Com-
pany ; Simon Bohl, meat market ; John C. Latus, confectionery and news depot ;
The Miller & Peck Company, dry goods; J. B. Mullings, clothiers; The Hewitt
Grocery Company, grocers; M. J. Byrne, lawyer; A. W. Castle, meat market;
J. H. Devereaux & Company, news dealers ; Waterbury Boot & Shoe Company ;
P. J. Bolan, hardware; Wm. W. Jones, boots and shoes; H. B. Sanderson, meat
market; W. J. Cassidy, grocer; Bauby Bros., fruit dealers; Martin J. Fahy,
plumber ; The Chas. Thatcher Company, plumbers ; A. F. Cowles, millinery ;
Thomas F. Casey & Company, druggists ; John B. Ebbs, druggist ; The D. B.
Wilson Company, hardware ; C. Siebert, manager Singer Manufacturing Com-
pany; J. F. Phelan, tea store; W. N. Ladd, groceries; S. A. Kingman, furniture;
The Bonner Preston Company; William H. Hall, tailor; Wright & Weible, tea
store ; E. F. Piatt, groceries.
One of the first campaigns of the association was in the direction of uniform
procedure in regard to opening and closing of stores, in addition to such prob-
lems as street lighting, credit ratings for use of merchants only and store lighting.
Meetings of the association were held in different places, one of the most
popular meeting places being the office of Atty. M. J. Byrne. In 1899 the records
show that the association was interesting itself in parcel post, food exhibits,
merchants' carnivals, collection of bad debts, and occasionally in important
municipal problems.
In 1S99 the membership of the association was 108. In that year the State
Association of Business Men was formed and Waterbury was represented at
the first meeting by John B. Mullings. The committees appointed in 1899 had
the following titles : Executive and legislative, arbitration and complaints, trans-
portation and insurance, debts and debtors, telegraph, telephone and postal facili-
ties, lighting and water facilities, house accounts, clothing, organization.
Early in its career the Merchants' Association took up the problem of trading
stamps which was finally disposed of by the state. Other questions agitated were
extension of trolley facilities, lower rates for telephone service, improvement of
telephone service, and improvement of railroad service. The association also
seems to have accomplished some results in the direction of improved mail service.
At the annual meeting held January 11, 1902, it was voted to change the name
of the Waterbury Merchants' Association to that of the Waterbury Business
Men's Association. The annual dues were kept at the same figure, $5.00 per year,
and Warren L. Flail was chosen its first president. The character of the associa-
tion was much the same as under the old name, but the records show that the
activities of the association were broadening gradually. In February, 1902, the
association put itself on record in favor of securing a Government building for
Waterbury, a step which was completed when the city had its present Federal
Building in which the postoffice is located, erected on Grand Street. It was in
1902 also that the Waterbury Business Men's Association first took steps to urge
upon the railroad company the necessity for the erection of a Union Station in
Waterbury.
PES
ID
P
a
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 287
During the period between the change from the Waterbury Merchants' Asso-
ciation to the Waterbury Business .Men's Association, there was an undercurrent
in favor of broadening the sphere and work of the association, but the member-
ship was still confined to 100 merchants and a few professional men, and most
of its activities were therefore along lines of interest only to its members.
With a larger number of professional men in the ranks and a few manufac-
turing concerns, there was a sincere desire to shape the affairs of the organization
for the benefit of the community as a trading center. Thus the extension of the
trolley system, the improvement of state roads and municipal needs were topics
of discussion at meetings. Legislative enactments which were designed to im-
prove or to impair Waterbury as a business and residential community were
carefully considered and efforts made to demonstrate the true state of public
sentiment by trips to the state capitol at Hartford during sessions of the General
Assembly. These undertakings were always led by the Business Men's Associa-
tion and were more or less effective.
In Tanuary, 1913, at the annual meeting of the Waterbury Business Men's
Association the following officers were elected:
President, Charles A. Colley; first vice president, A. K. Chattaway ; second
vice president, Charles E. Puffer; directors, William E. Fulton, Almon C. Judd,
John C. Sherwood, Frederick S. Chase, Dr. Frank J. Erbe, Charles L. Campbell,
William J. Larkin, Earl R. Hudson, C. H. Preston, Jr., A. S. Lyall, W. F. Harper,
Harry C. Post, C. S. Redmond, James W. Galavin, Harry A. Lennon, Archie T.
Jones, Robert P. Lewis; secretary. Miles F. McXiff ; treasurer, Samuel A. Chase;
auditors, William J. Pape, Harris W. Langley.
In accepting the presidency, Mr. Colley announced that he favored renaming
the organization the Chamber of Commerce, and this was accordingly done.
This change, together with an aggressive personal campaign for membership
which Mr. Colley began as soon as he was elected, brought a great change into
the organization. Within five months the membership, which was about two
hundred in January, 19 13, was increased to about five hundred and when the first
year of Mr. Colley's service as president was concluded the membership was
about six hundred. This brought the attention of the whole state to the change
made here. Mr. Colley was for some time one of the directors of the State
Chamber of Commerce and did much to keep the Waterbury organization before
the public eye as an after-dinner speaker and a progressive director of the state
organization.
There was a demand here for a new state armory and also for a normal
school and the chamber of commerce did much to influence the general assembly
in favor of them, but thus far without avail.
One of the outstanding features of the chamber's activity under Mr. Colley
was the social prominence of the organization. Its banquets were notable events,
with celebrated speakers among the guests. Its hospitality was extended to the
large delegation of the Boston Chamber of Commerce which made a visit to
inspect Waterbury in 1914, and to a committee of legislators who made a visit
to inspect the old state armory, but who were so well entertained that they forgot
all about the wretched building they had seen and forgot to find an appropriation
for a new one.
There was a splendid municipal budget exhibit made under the auspices of
the chamber of commerce, following an extensive survey by the Bureau of
Municipal Research of New York. The chamber of commerce also handled the
celebration of Old Home Week, which took place here Thanksgiving week, 19 15,
in connection with the completion of the new City Hall and the dedication of
the clock on The Green.
288 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Publicity of an aggressive type also was a feature of the chamber's work in
the days of Mr. Colley's administration. Handsome folders with views of the
city were printed in quantities and distributed everywhere, and, except during
the summer months, the Chamber of Commerce Bulletin was issued monthly
with comments and original articles on topics of the hour. Most of these were
from the pen of Mr. Colley himself, but some were contributed.
With all this there was still much to be desired and Mr. Colley felt the need
of a permanent headquarters and a secretary who would be employed to give all
his time to chamber activities. He insisted in 1915 that he would not serve a
fourth term and pointed out that the work of the chamber was growing and
there was need of a secretary who could give it all his attention. He was pre-
vailed upon to run again and was elected president in 19 16, even after he declared
that he would have to be paid a salary of $1,200 if he should hold the office
another year.
In recognition also of the extra work of the secretary, Miles F. McNiff, a
young attorney, who also was re-elected, was given a larger salary, so that the
chamber's payroll jumped from $300 a year to $1,800 per year.
At the end of that year the salary of the president was discontinued, and the
nominating committee brought in a recommendation that a permanent secretary
be employed. The officers and directors elected in January, 1917, are named
below :
President, Nathaniel R. Bronson ; vice presidents, Charles E. Puffer, and
Alexander S. Lyall ; treasurer, Samuel A. Chase; directors, Edward W. Beach,
John M. Burrall, Frederick S. Chase, Charles A. Colley, Darragh DeLancey,
Dr. F. J. Erbe, James W. Galavin, Atty. Frank P. Guilfoile, William T. Larkin,
Martin* J. McEvoy, Atty. Miles F. McNiff, Harry C. Post, John C. Sherwood,
Charles A. Templeton, Cornelius Tracy.
T. F. Barry, former managing editor of the Waterbury Republican, was
elected secretary of the chamber of commerce and the chamber opened head-
quarters February 26th, at 108 Bank Street.
From the beginning of this period the chamber has been more active and
more interested in all local activities. During the year 191 7 it assisted in all
undertakings of a community nature incident to the war. Two Red Cross
membership campaigns, food conservation movements, Liberty Loan campaigns,
recruiting campaigns for the army, navy, officers' training camps and co-operation
with the local exemption boards and the draftees of the city and surrounding
territory are outstanding features of its war work program.
Its officers have been re-elected for service in 19 18 and while its activities of
this year have depleted its treasury, with the exception of a reserve fund of
$4,000 judiciously set aside during President Colley's administration, it is facing
the future with hope of opportunities for greater service to the community and
anticipation of generous and stanch support while it continues to give service.
THE WATERRURY CLUR
The Waterbury Club was organized September 20, 1881, with thirty members.
Its first president was Augustus S. Chase, with D. S. Plume and Charles Dickin-
son as vice presidents, Mark L. Sperry as secretary, and F. L. Curtiss as treasurer.
In July, 1894, the club moved from small quarters in the Waterbury Bank
Building, which had been taken in 1899, to the large house on North Main Street
built by Dr. Alfred North. In 1916, when the new building on West Main Street
was planned, the old club house was sold to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, who
at once took possession, the club moving to the top floor of the Elton.
THE COUNTRY CLUB, WATERBLTRY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 289
The new club house, of which the architect is Cass Gilbert of New York, is
in the Colonial style of architecture.
It has a length of 135 feet on Central Avenue and a frontage of 68 feet on
West Main Street. It is three stories in height and of brick construction, the
interior to be finished largely in oak.
In the basement there will be three bowling alleys, with a large squash court
on the West Main Street front. The gymnasium, which occupies the rear of
the building for its full width, takes up the remainder of the basement and part
of the first floor and will be one of the finest athletic rooms in the state.
On the main floor the entire West Main Street front will be occupied by a
sumptuously furnished lounging room. At the rear of this, with a lobby entrance,
will be the cafe on one side and the billiard room on the other. The rear of this
floor is the upper part of the gymnasium.
On the second floor the club dining-room will front on West Main Street.
Behind this are to be the kitchen and card rooms on the Central Avenue side.
Over the gymnasium there will be a finely-equipped ladies' dining-room and
ladies' lounging room. The library is to be close to this.
On the third floor the Home Club will have its bachelor quarters. The entire
West Main Street front is to be a lounging room. There are to be eighteen
apartments for club members, with a balcony extending along the Central Avenue
side and another on the opposite side. Servants' quarters are provided for on
the fourth floor.
It is believed the club house will be ready for occupancy by the late spring
of 1918.
The Club Site Committee, which is in general charge of the construction work,
consists of Arthur R. Kimball, George A. Driggs, George Rockwell, F. S. Chase,
Edwin C. Northrop, and Charles E. Spencer, Jr.
The present officers are : President, Charles E. Spencer, Jr. ; secretary, Lewis
M. Hart; treasurer, Edwin C. Northrop.
The presidents of the Waterbury Club have been as follows, with year of
election :
August S. Chase, 1881 ; James S. Elton, 1892; Mark L. Sperry, 1894; Fred-
erick B. Rice, 1898; George L. White, 1899; Arthur O. Jennings, 1901 ; Lewis
A. Piatt, 1902; Charles S. Rodman, 1904; Robert F. Griggs, 1905; Lewis A.
Piatt, 1907; C. M. Clark, 1910; A. R. Kimball, 1912 ; Charles E. Spencer, Jr., 1915.
THE COUNTRY CLUB OF WATERBURY
The Country Club of Waterbury was the immediate successor of the Water-
bury Golf Association, which had a small clubhouse and a nine-hole golf course
on the golf lots on West Main Street, following the east shore of the Naugatuck
River northwards. It was in existence from 1898 until succeeded by the new
organization. The last officials of the Golf Association were : Frederick J.
Brown, president; Howard S. White, secretary; I. P. Kellogg, treasurer. The
Waterbury Country Club, formed in 1907, was incorporated in 1908. Its first
officials were: President, George L. White; secretary, Frederick J. Brown;
treasurer, William B. Merriman.
The grounds, 183 acres, on what is now known as the Country Club Road,
on the outskirts of Middlebury, were in 1908 laid out for golf and tennis, and a
beautiful clubhouse erected. In 191 7 two additional tennis courts were laid out,
making six in all now open for use by members.
Vol. 1— in
290 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The present officers are: W. W. Holmes, president; S. P. Williams, secre-
tary; Roberts G. Hannegan, treasurer.
Former President Wm. H. Taft is an honorary member.
THE WATERBURY DRIVING ASSOCIATION
The Waterbury Driving Association was organized in 1889, as tne Waterbury
Driving Company, leasing the grounds on the Watertown Road and laying out
the present driving park. The association has held no races during recent years,
although sub-letting to others who have given meets. The present officers are :
President, Thomas Bland : secretary, Henry W. Minor ; treasurer, Frank Hayes.
THE WATERBURY AUTOMOBILE CLUB
The Waterbury Automobile Club, organized through the efforts of Almon C.
Judd, February 20, 1909, was active for some years in the work of protecting the
interests of automobile owners. It has done but little along these lines during
the past two years.
Its present officers are: President, W. W. Holmes; treasurer, H. S. Seeley.
THE NATURALIST CLUB
The Naturalist Club of Waterbury was organized in June, 1895, through the
efforts of H. F. Bassett, then librarian of the Bronson Library. It has held its
meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month regularly throughout
each winter since that time, following the club motto, "Observe and Remember."
Its meetings have always been held in the parlors of the Second Church. On
June 22, 191 5, the club celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a banquet.
The present officers are : President, Richard C. Allen ; vice president, Miss
Enuma L. Bailey; recording secretary, Mrs. Elsie Camp Martin; corresponding
secretary, Miss Anna H. Pierpont; treasurer, Miss M. Louise Seymour.
THE NOSAHOGAN PISCATORIAL ASSOCIATION
The Nosahogan Piscatorial Association is a club formed by members of
Nosahogan Lodge of Odd Fellows. It was established as a fishing club in 1890,
but is now a social club with rooms in the Odd Fellows Temple. Its present
officers are: President, George M. Egan; secretary and treasurer, Frederick
W. Tate.
THE ABAGADASSET CLUB
The Abagadasset Club was first chartered December 15, 1902, and when the
Mullings Building was completed in 1903 special club rooms were provided for
the organization. The founders were George G. Mullings, George W. Camp,
Frank T. Clark, Wm. P. Lamb, J. A. Upson, J. Rawson Hughes, E. T. Crooker,
Dr. W. O. Beecher and J. H. Gray. It was purely a social organization. Its
officers in 1914 when it decided to dissolve were : President, Archie T. Jones ;
secretary, Arthur F. McGraw; treasurer, George W. Greene. It took its name
from the Indian word which meant a place of shelter, and is mentioned in the
historial works of Waterbury.
AN INTERIOR VIEW OF THE ELKS' CLUB. WATERBURY
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 291
111 I. ELKS CLUB
The comfortably arranged and beautifully appointed Elks' I Ionic is located on
West Main Strict, the dedication of the new building taking place in 1910. The
exercises were attended by a notable gathering of Elks from all over the country.
The club and lodge at first occupied a suite of rooms at 108 Hank Street, where
its affairs were held until its effects there were destroyed in the great conflagration
of 10,02. For three years it had its rooms in the Waterbury Trust Company Build-
ing but in [909 its members raised funds to purchase the Curtiss Home on West
.Main Street and the following year it erected a handsome building hack of the
old residence. In 1914 Truman S. Lewis offered the club Si 6,000 for the complete
interior renovating of the old building and also its outfitting. Upon the work
being completed it was found out, however, that the cost had run up to $26,100,
yet Mr. Lewis insisted in making this amount his donation. The arrangements are
most convenient, including new bowling alleys and tennis courts among the attrac-
tions for the entertainment of members and guests.
THE ALGONQUIN CLUB
The Algonquin Club was a social organization with a membership of twenty,
having club rooms at 42 liank Street. Its officers, when it was organized in
1908 were : President, Edward Real ; secretary, Alfred Straub ; treasurer, Michael
J. Lawlor. In 1916 its membership was small and it gave up its club rooms and
its existence.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
WATERBURY BAR ASSOCIATION
The Waterbury Bar Association is not a continuing organization with by-laws
and regular elections, but is in existence for emergency purposes only. When-
ever action by the Waterbury bar is necessary, the dean of the profession, who at
this time is Judge Edward F. Cole, calls a meeting and at this a secretary is
elected who holds that office for the next meeting. At present the acting secretary
is Lawrence L. Lewis.
WATERBURY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
The Waterbury Medical Association was organized February 5, 1857, and
although it did much during its earlier existence to preserve the ethics of the
profession, it was not until March 20, 1908, that it was incorporated with this
as its specific object, "to establish and maintain the practice of medicine and
surgery in this city upon a respectable footing."
It has done much in the way of mutual improvement and in the establish-
ment of harmonious relations between members.
Its membership on December 1, 191 7, is sixty-three.
Its present officers are : President, Dr. P. T. O'Connor ; vice president, Dr.
Edward L. Smith; secretary, Dr. Edward A. Hcrr; treasurer, Dr. Charles S.
Rodman.
THE WATERBURY DENTAL ASSOCIATION
The Waterbury Dental Association was organized as a purely professional
body on May 16, 1905, and has now twenty-eight active members on its list. At
present its officers are: President, Dr. William C. Spain; vice president, Dr.
292 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
William D. Greenberg. Both the secretary, Dr. Frederick C. Daniels, and the
treasurer, Dr. Maurice D. Berman, have volunteered for professional work in
the army.
THE CELTIC MEDICAL SOCIETY
In 1906 twenty physicians of Waterbury formed the Celtic Medical Society.
It had but one purpose, the establishment of a second hospital in the city. The
society began at once to gather data and to present facts to prominent citizens,
interesting especially Monsignor Slocum, who then became the mainstay of the
projected St. Mary's Hospital. Its officers were: President, Dr. E. W. Mc-
Donald; vice president, Dr. B. A. O'Hara; secretary, Dr. John D. Freney;
treasurer,* Dr. J. F. Hayes.
In 1909, when St. Mary's Hospital was dedicated, the Celtic Medical Society
ceased to exist.
WOMEN'S CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS
THE WATERBURY WOMEN'S CLUB
The Waterbury Women's Club was organized in April, 1898, through the
efforts and the inspiration of Mrs. George S. Abbott.
The first officers of the club were : Corinne R. Morrow, president ; Elizabeth
O. R. Abbott, corresponding secretary ; Harriet E. Meers, recording secretary ;
Harriet Elton Stevens, treasurer ; and Jennie A. Upson, auditor. The first
regular meeting of the club was held in the parlors of the first Congregational
Church. At the close of the fourth year the club membership had increased
from 45 to 135, and in 1891 it was united with the General Federation of Women's
clubs, uniting with the State Federation in 1897. It was incorporated in 191 5.
The present membership is 350, with a waiting list. Meetings are held twice
monthly, from the first Tuesday in October, until the last Tuesday in April.
The object of the club is to promote the intellectual and social culture of its
members and its line of work includes the study of ethics, art and literature,
education and science. Each year an excellent course of lectures is given.
Many interesting papers were read at the meetings by members of the club.
Among the purely social events of the club are the opening reception, which is
called the club tea, the first Tuesday in October; the midwinter tea in January,
and the annual reception in April.
The present officers of the club are : President, Mrs. Adrian L. Mulloy ;
recording secretary, Mrs. John L. Geist ; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Clarendon
Nickerson; treasurer, Mrs. Benjamin Chatfield.
The following have been the presidents of the Waterbury Women's Club
since its organization: 1889-1890, Mrs. J. Henry Morrow; 1890-1892, Mrs.
Daniel F. Webster; 1892-1894, Mrs. Edward L. Frisbie; 1894-1896, Mrs. Gilman
C. Hill; 1896-1898, Mrs. Sumner A. Kingman; 1898-1899, Mrs. Isaac N. Russell;
1899-1901. Mrs. Jay H. Hart; 1901-1903, Mrs. David B. Hamilton; 1903-1905,
Mrs. Otis S. Northrop; 1905-1907, Mrs. Wm. H. Phipps; 1907-1909, Mrs. Wm.
F. Chatfield ; 1909-1910, Mrs. Ellis Phelan ; 1910-1912, Mrs. Frederick D. Buckley;
1912-1914, Mrs. Frederick M. Peasley; 1914-1916, Mrs. Augustin A. Crane;
1916-1918, Mrs. Adrian L. Mulloy.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Melicent Porter Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution was founded
January 2y, 1893. by Mrs. S. W. Kellogg and now numbers forty members. In
\\ ATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 293
Bronson Library is a bronze tablet erected by this chapter, in memory of the
men from this town who fought in the Revolutionary war. The chapter also
put a tablet in the old Porter Home in Union City. It aided in the erection of
the Scott monument at Watertown, and in the placing of the historic boulder
on Andrews Hill in Naugatuck. On its roster are the names of many of Water-
bury's most distinguished residents.
On November 8, 191 2, the nineteenth general meeting of the Connecticut
Daughters of the American Revolution met with the Melicent Porter Chapter
at the First Congregational Church. The address of the day was by the Rev.
Samuel Hart, president of the State Historical Society.
The past chapter regents of Melicent Porter Chapter are : Mrs. Stephen W.
Kellogg, 1893-1898; Mrs. Henry C. Griggs, 1898-1900; Miss Susie Hill, 1900-1901 ;
Mrs. Otis S. Northrop, [901-1903; Mrs. John S. Castle, 1903-1905; Mrs. D. F.
Webster, 1905-1906; Mrs. Edward W. Shannon, 1906-1908; Mrs. B. H. Bristol,
1908-1910; Mrs. Edward Shannon, 1910-1915; Mrs. R. Wm. Hampson, 1915-1917.
Its present officers are: Honorary regent, Mrs. Emily A. Shannon; regent,
Mrs. R. William Hampson; registrar, Katherine D. Hamilton; treasurer, Almira
C. Twining; recording secretary, Mrs. E. Sidney Bronson; corresponding sec-
retary, Mrs. J. B. Jones; historian, Mrs. C. B. Everitt ; curator, Mrs. Cornelius
Tracy.
catholic women's benevolent legion
The Catholic Women's Benevolent Legion, Rev. Lawrence Walsh branch,
was organized in 1907 by Mrs. RafTerty of Worcester, Mass. The object of the
legion is principally benevolence.
The present officers are : President, K. E. Conway ; secretary, E. G. Guilf oile ;
collector, Mrs. J. H. Turley; treasurer, Jennie Bergin.
THE MOTHERS' CLUB
The W'aterville Mothers' Club was organized April 1, 1904, meeting on the
first Thursday of each month at Sprague School. Its first officers were: Presi-
dent, Mrs. Alfred L. Emmons; secretary, Mrs. J. S. Holroyd. It has developed
into an exceedingly valuable organization giving teachers an opportunity to discuss
many essential school needs direct with the mothers of the pupils. In 1916 the
title was changed to the Waterville Child Welfare Association. Its officers are :
President, Mrs. Geo. Monroe; secretary, Mrs. Fred Wolf; treasurer. Mrs. W.
Harper.
ATHLETIC AND SPORTING ORGANIZATIONS
THE RECREATION ROD AND GUN CLUB
The Recreation Rod and Gun Club was organized in 1912, and leased the
large ten-room house belonging to the T. H. Hayes estate and located on the
Pearl Lake Road near Piedmont. Its first officers were : President, B. A. Wilmot ;
secretary, W. G. Donovan ; treasurer, G. F. O'Neill. It now has a membership
of ninety-two. Its present officers are : President, George H. Wheeler ; secretary,
William G. Donovan ; financial secretary, William H. Muus ; treasurer, George
F. O'Neill.
The members enjoy both the hunting and fishing which is plentiful during
seasons. Its club evenings are held on the second Friday of each month.
294 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
THE BROOKLYN ATHLETIC CLUB
The Brooklyn Athletic Club, founded in 1889, was in 1894 a flourishing organ-
ization with many of its athletic activities in full swing. Its officers in that year
were : President, John M. Barrett ; vice president, James W. Dawson ; recording
secretary, Thomas F. Mitchell ; financial secretary, James Powers ; treasurer,
Patrick Keough.
At that period the club was meeting at 796 Bank Street. In 1902 it moved to
its present quarters at 776 Bank Street. Its membership is today 125. Of these
forty-one are now in the army, a service record of which the club is justly proud.
It has in its parlors today twenty-one silver trophies won by its athletic teams
since 1901. In that year they took second prize in the City Amateur Baseball
League, winning first place in 1902, 1903, 1904, 1906 and 1909. In 1913 it won
the mile relay at the municipal meet in Hamilton Park on Labor Day with this
team: John Hickey, manager, J. Brickley, H. Auray, Z. Jamelle, T. Caldwell.
It also won the point trophy at this meet.
In 1914 with W. Pollard, manager, and G. Kingston, J. Brickley, Z. Jamelle,
and W. Roberge, it again won in the team relay.
The point trophy was again won in 191 5 at the city meet.
In 1916 it finished first in the city basket-ball tournament, having finished
second in both 19 14 and 191 5.
These are but a few of its athletic victories.
Of the first thirty-eight members examined for the army there was but one
rejected.
Among its honor members in the United States service are Captain William
J. Shanahan and Sergeant Edward Groody.
Its officers now are : Thomas Conway, president ; John Danisevicze, vice
president ; John Gloven, recording secretary ; Frank Regan, financial secretary ;
Anthony Carroll, treasurer.
THE MATTATUCK ROD AND GUN CLUB
The Mattatuck Rod and Gun Club was incorporated in 1902 although it had
then been in existence for some years with a small membership of ardent hunters
and trap shooters. After its incorporation it leased ground on the Watertown
Road near the site of the present Waterbury Rolling Mills and built an 18 by 24
cottage. In 1905 it put in two "western" traps and has held annual turnaments
until the beginning of the war period. In 1906 it organized its women's corps of
which Mrs. C. H. Beere is now captain. Some fine scores have been made by the
women at the traps.
It has now about one hundred members and its officers are : Dr. C. H. Beere,
president and secretary ; David R. Walker, vice president ; Peter Fitzhenry,
treasurer; William Woods, financial secretary; John Draher, field captain. The
club is now looking about for new grounds and will probably build a model club
house in 191 8.
THE WATERBURY PISTOL AND RIFLE CLUB
The Waterbury Pistol and Rifle Club was organized in August, 1917, by officers
of the Home Guard with a view to perfecting its members in pistol and rifle shoot-
ing. Among its prominent organizers are Colonel James Geddes, Lieut. Col.
A. F. Wolff, Maj. Wra. H. Sandland, Captains Thomas F. Jackson, and R. L.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 295
Keaveney, Joseph O'Neill, Henry Littlejohn, C. A. Templeton, and Fred W.
Chesson. It now numbers about one hundred members. Its range is at Reynolds
Bridge, Thomaston.
WAD I [AM POST, G. A. R.
The Grand Army of the Republic, once the largest military society in the
United States, is rapidly dwindling away. Waterbury is proud of Wadham Post
No. 49, G. A. R., which was organized with forty members on August 14, 1879,
by Department Commander Charles E. Fowler. It took its name from that of
three Waterbury brothers killed in action in the Civil war within the space of
sixteen days. The post did much toward the erection of the Soldiers' Monument,
and has never failed to respond to every call for patriotic work. The same may
be said of the Wadham Relief Corps.
Its highest membership was 360. Today there are sixty-two left on the roll,
eleven having died in 1916. Here is the roll of Wadham Post No. 49, G. A. R.,
on December 1, 1917:
Charles E. Beeman, 2nd Conn. H. A., Co. H.
Hopkins J. Benham, 2nd Conn. H. A., Co. P.
James W. Benham, 14th Conn. Infty., Co. I.
Edward Bergen, Seaman, Ship Utah, Navy.
Zenas C. Bowen, 10th Vermont Infty., Co. H.
Eli Bronson, 23rd Conn. Infty., Co. A.
Henry Menold, 9th Conn. Infty., Co. F.
Alex Buchanan, 20th N. Y. Ind. Battery.
John Byrnes, 2nd Conn. H. A., Co. G.
Oliver G. Camp, 15th Conn. Infty., Co. H.
Wesley F. Cashman, 14th N. Y. H. A., Co. E.
Wm. T. Chatfield, Master Mate, Gunboat Kittatinny.
Frederick Coon, 8th Conn. Infty., Co. E.
Thomas M. Dodds, Ship Richmond.
George M. Evans, 1st Conn. Cav., Co. B.
Niles J. Engelke, 47th N. Y. Infty., Co. L.
Moses Hallas, 22nd Conn. Infty., Co. F.
George W. Jackson, 1st Vermont Cav., Co. I.
John S. Hayes, 3rd Conn. Battery, L. A.
John W. Hill, 6th Conn. Infty., Co. E.
Walter F. Hinckley, 45th Infty., Co. H.
William A. Hollman, Landsman, Ship Richmond.
Charles Hutchins, 23rd Mass. Vols., Co. G.
George Hartley, 23rd Conn. Infty., Co. H.
Andrew J. Kenneally, 14th U. S. Infty., Co. F.
Frederick Korngiebel, 21st Conn. Infty., Co. A.
James Loucks, 15th N. Y. Infty., Co. E.
Volney Matthews, 2nd X. J. Infty., Co. B.
Dennis A. McGraw, 23rd Conn. Infty., Co. H.
John McLarney, U. S. Navy.
Henry W. Brown, 14th Conn. Infty., Co. C.
Harris W. Minor, 6th Conn. Infty., Co. E.
Abraham C. Naylor, 39th Mass. Infty., Co. F.
Homer F. Northrop, 24th N. Y. Cav., Co. C.
Aaron Peck, 17th Conn. Infty., Co. G.
296 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Eugene A. Pendleton, 9th Ohio Ind. Battery, L. A.
George L. Piatt, 8th Conn. Infty., Co. E.
Hanford L. Plumb, 112th N. Y. Infty., Co. B.
Wales Porter, 8th Conn. Infty., Co. I.
William B. Quigley, 22nd Conn. Infty., Co. E.
Daniel J. Rafferty, 1st Conn. H. A., Co. C.
George O. Robbins, 16th Conn. Infty., Co. K.
Charles M. Rowley, 2nd Conn. H. A., Co. I.
John L. Saxe, 4th N. Y. Cav., Co. F.
Chauncey Seeley, 2nd Conn. H. A., Co. I.
George E. Sellew, 7th Conn. Infty., Co. C.
Sylvester Shea, 13th Mass. Battery, L. A.
Samuel C. Snagg, 1st Conn. H. A., Co. C.
Dwight L. Somers, 14th Conn. Infty., Co. C.
John S. Stephen, 76th N. Y. Infty., Co. H.
Stephen A. Talmage, 6th Conn. Infty., Co. E.
Levi W. Tillotson, 1st Kansas Infty., Co. E.
Ruby M. True, 2nd N. H. Infty., Co. B.
William Tysoe, 124th N. Y. Infty., Co. G.
LeRoy Upson, 1st Conn. Battery, L. A.
Charles D. Weaver, 10th Conn. Infty., Co. F.
Curtis P. Wedge, 2nd Conn. H. A., Co. A.
David L. Wells, 120th N. Y. Infty., Co. C.
Andrew Winters, 6th Conn. Infty., Co. C.
Seth Woodward, 27th Conn. Infty., Co. E.
James R. Young, 1st Conn. H. A., Co. C.
Below is a list of the past post commanders with dates of service : William
Tysoe, 1879; George Robbins, 1882; Oscar W. Cornish, 1888; Wesley F. Cash-
man, 1889; George L. Piatt, 1891 ; John S. Hayes, 1893; William E. Quigley,
1896; Eugene A. Pendleton, 1898; John S. Stephens, 1900; Chauncey Seeley,
1901 ; Frederick Korngiebel, 1905 ; John L. Saxe, 1910; Levi Tillotson, 1912; Alex
Buchanan, 1914; Henry W. Brown, 191 5; Andrew J. Kenneally, 1916; Curtis
P. Wedge, 191 7.
The following are the officers for 1917: Commander, Curtis P. Wedge;
S. V. commander, Aaron Peck; J. V. commander, Wales Porter; Adjt, Chauncey
Seeley; Q. M., William Tysoe; surgeon, Hanford L. Plumb; chaplain, Levi W.
Tillotson.
Wadham Relief Corps No. 1 has the following officers : President, Mrs.
Mattie Ward; secretary, Mrs. Fannie M. Warner; treasurer, Mrs. Lura E. Dutton.
SONS OF VETERANS
Sons of Veterans Wadham Camp No. 49, has the following officers: Com-
mander, Venton D. Cashman; S. V. C, William Loomis; J. V. C, Robert S.
Cooper; secretary, John S. Gallagher; treasurer, Louis E. Granger; chaplain,
Benjamin R. Singleton; patriotic instructor, Herman M. Turrell.
OTHER PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES
The Connecticut Society Sons of the American Revolution, which is a state
branch of the national organization of that name, has no distinctively local chapters.
Waterbury has, however, been honored quite often by representation in its official
family. In 1899 former Congressman Stephen W. Kellogg was on its board of
-
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fc
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 297
managers. In 1901 and 1912 George E. Judd was similarly honored. In 1902
and 1903 Mark L. Sperry and in 191 1 John P. Elton served in the same capacity.
Gen. Merrit Heminway of Watertown was also for years on its board of managers.
In the State Society of Colonial Wars, Arthur R. Kimball of Waterbury
was in 1909 chosen lieutenant governor, serving until 191 3.
In the Military Order of the Foreign Wars of the United States, Connecticut
Branch, Col. Lucien F. Burpee was vice commander for 1912 and 1913. Rev.
Alexander Hamilton of Woodbury has been- chaplain since 1908.
In 1903 the Connecticut officers of the Spanish-American war formed a state
branch of the Naval and Military Order of the Spanish-American war. Of this
Judge Lucien F. Burpee has been vice commander since its organization. It
holds annual meetings in the State House at Hartford.
In 1903 the Department of Connecticut, United Spanish War Veterans, was
formed with local branches in many towns of the state. Emerson H. Liscum
Camp No. 12, of Waterbury, was organized in 1907 with Aubrey S. Edwards
as captain. Its captains since that date have been Joseph Monaghan, Joseph C.
Heolion, Adolph P. King, M. A. Carter, Wm. H. Atkins, John H. Hitchcock,
Frederick P. Houston.
Gustave Asheim and A. P. King of Waterbury have both served as marshal
and inspector of the State Department.
Waterbury is strongly represented in the Connecticut Society of the Order
of the Founders and Patriots of America. Rev. John G. Davenport has been
its state chaplain since 19 13, and Aldis A. Lovell has served it for the same period
as state's attorney. In 1916 Benj. L. Coe was chosen councilor for three years.
Its genealogist is Charles Westburn Church.
Waterbury's women descendants of Colonial Dames have taken a deep interest
in the Connecticut Society of the Colonial Dames of America. In 1905 and 1906
Martha R. Driggs was its recording secretary, serving in 1909, 1910 and 191 1,
and again in 1916 as vice president. In 1908 Edith D. Kingsbury was vice presi-
dent and in 1912 served a term as corresponding secretary. Its meetings are
held annually.
THE PATRICK SARSF1ELD CLUB
The Patrick Sarsfield Club is a purely educational organization which in
1895 was already active in its work of keeping alive the Gaelic language and
in commemorating all those celebrated deeds and events which have made history
in Ireland. Its important meeting is held annually, on some great Irish anniversary,
and is in the shape of a banquet at the Elton, but this has been discontinued during
the war period. Among its notable officials have been Henry Southwick, John
Claffey, Joseph McGrail, Morgan T. Burke, John Kierney, Michael J. Lynch,
Francis P. Guilfoile, Dennis J. Slavin, John J. Howard.
Its officers in 191 7 are: President, Timothy F. Luddy; recording secretary,
Wm. J. Hughes; financial secretary, Michael Carroll; treasurer, John J. Claffey.
CHAPTER XXIV
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
WATERBURY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHURCH CHOIRS REKINDLE INTEREST IN
MUSIC THE BUCKINGHAM MUSIC HALL ORATORIO SOCIETY AND ITS CELE-
BRATED MAY FESTIVAL WATERBURY CHORAL CLUB GERMAN SINGING SOCIETIES
—THEATRICAL HISTORY OF A QUARTER CENTURY THE ADVENT OF POLl's THE
MOVIE PERIOD THE WORK OF EUGENE JACQUES AMATEUR THEATRICALS.
Waterbury, like all American cities, has had constant changes in its musical
life, but since 1893 it has at least been rich in a great host of music lovers, who
have given their time and their money to educate the city from a musical stand-
point.
Beginning in 1866 and still continuing, now the oldest musical organization in
the city, is the Concordia, a German male chorus, Hans Saro, director, and its
concerts are of the highest order. Director Saro has for over two decades been
active in this fine work of advancing musical interest in Waterbury.
In 1902 the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles E. Farn-
ham was a decided artistic advance. This, too, has been a continuous organization.
For years it was known as the Farnham Symphony Orchestra. During the past
three years it has been known as the Waterbury Philharmonic Orchestra. Its
latest concert, given in 1916, was up to its usual high standard. The president of
the organization is John L. Bonn, with George E. Boyd and Howard Bristol also
active in its management.
But the churches did most to keep alive the practice of music and the taste
for it. Dwellers in great cities, where concert and opera are frequent, often over-
look the relative importance of church music in smaller communities. In cities
of 100,000 or less, the singing of a standard choral work by an ambitious choir,
or even the special music prepared for Christmas, Easter, or other church
festivals becomes a matter of popular note and significance. The history of
music in America begins, all commentators agree, with the psalm and hymns of
early New England worshipers.
So it was a church choir that rekindled in 1903 the general interest of Water-
bury in music. Its latest predecessor had been the Harmonic Society, born in
1889, died in 1894, which in 1890 gave "Elijah" for the first time in Waterbury
and brought to the city the famous Germania orchestra of Boston. Its director
was Alex S. Gibson.
Meanwhile the choir of Trinity Church had been developing into a reliable
and flexible musical instrument. Its organist and director, George E. Boyd, at-
tracted considerable notice for the choir by performing Stainer's Crucifixion,
Sullivan's Prodigal Son, Dudley Buck's setting of the Forty-sixth Psalm, Gaul's
Passion Service, and long excerpts from Mendelssohn's St. Paul.
Pressure of other business compelled Mr. Boyd to resign his church post 'in
1898. But in October, 1903, desiring to give The Messiah, Mr. Boyd organized
the Trinity Choral Society, with the choir as a nucleus. The singers were good
298
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 299
readers, for after only nine rehearsals, the eighty-four voiees got through
creditably. The orchestra of forty gave Mr. Boyd his first experience as a
conductor of instrumental music. In [904-5 the Trinity Choral Society repeated
The Messiah and also sang Elijah, having grown to 135 voices. There was similar
activity the following year.
When the Waterbury Hospital was planned, John II. Whittemore modestly
offered to give a plot in the heart of the town and to erect thereon a line business
building. — a donation to the hospital, valued at over two hundred thousand
dollars. This was the moment seized upon by Mr. Boyd, Miss Mary R. Hillard,
Isaac B. Clark. Albert J. Blakesley, John L. Bonn, Charles E. Farnham, R. A.
Laslett Smith, and other far-seeing musical enthusiasts to urge Waterbury's
need of a first-class concert hall. They laid the facts before Mr. Whittemore.
They showed how inadequate the city hall and the churches had proven, for
important musical gatherings They pointed out the growing taste for music, the
existence of a measurable and increasing public demanding the best and willing,
under proper conditions, to pay for it. They suggested that a large concert room
in the proposed Buckingham Building would provide revenue for the hospital
by encouraging the visits of the great orchestras and musical artists.
After due consideration, Mr. Whittemore acquiesced. The new hall, as part
of the large office building, was designed by McKim, Mead & White, and was
dedicated October 2, 1906, with two concerts. Victor Herbert and his orchestra
played ; the soloists w-ere Mme. Louise Homer and Campanari ; the Choral Society
sang the Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah, with other fitting music. It became
a Nattgatuck Valley occasion and the people thronged the new house and evinced
the liveliest satisfaction. Mr. Herbert declared the hall superior in acoustics to
any in New York, and the musicians and auditors joined him in praise of its
comfort, convenience and beauty.
This music hall holds an audience of fifteen hundred, and there is room for
nearly five hundred persons on the stage. It was planned and executed with all the
skill and taste that the architects, backed by the liberal giver, could command.
The choral body later became the Waterbury Oratorio Society, conducted by
Richard T. Percy of New York.
At the published suggestion of Miss Mary R. Hillard, the Music League was
formed to raise and manage what was intended to be a permanent guarantee
fund. In 1901 half a dozen men of W T aterbury, taking their ideas from a Hartford
organization, formed themselves into the Camelot Club. Raising among its six
members several hundred dollars, the Camelot Club kept this as a fund, enabling
it to risk engaging distinguished musicians for concerts in Waterbury. Under
the club's auspices, the Kneisel Quartet, the Mamies Quartet and several recital
givers made excellent music to such good audiences that the fund was scarcely
touched. The newly formed Music League then absorbed the Camelot Club,
borrowed its plan and began to apply it on a larger scale.
The Waterbury Oratorio Society promptly voted to co-operate in building up
the Music League, and named as a committee Messrs. C. B. Churchill, Isaac P.
Kellogg, Charles P. Mitchell, R. A. Laslett Smith. J. Edward Keegan, H. H.
Romer, and George E. Boyd.
On December 14. 1906, the Waterbury Oratorio Society gave "The Messiah"
with Richard T. Percy, directing. The soloists on this occasion were Mrs. Caroline
Mihr-Hardy, soprano; Adele Laeis Baldwin, contralto; Frank H. Ormsby, tenor:
and Ericsson F. Bushnell, bass. The symphony orchestra of forty-five took part
in the concert.
On May 13 and May 14, 1917. the Waterbury Oratorio Society gave its notable
300 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
May musical festival with a program that provided for two rehearsals and three
concerts. Damrosch's New York Symphony orchestra was engaged for the
festival with Maud Powell, Madame Charlotte Maconda, Isabelle Bouton, Ellison
Van Hoose, Gwilym Miles, and Frederick C. Weld, as soloists. The first rehearsal
took place Monday afternoon, May 13th. The first concert took place Monday
evening, with a Wagner program and with Maud Powell and Ellison Van Hoose
as soloists. The second rehearsal took place Tuesday morning. The second
concert took plaee Tuesday afternoon, with a Symphony program and Maconda
as the soloist. Tuesday evening the Waterbury Oratorio Society, assisted by the
Damrosch orchestra, gave the oratorio "Samson and Delilah" with Isabelle Bouton,
Charlotte Maconda, Ellison Van Hoose and Frederick C. Weld as soloists.
This was perhaps the most pretentious musical affair ever held in Waterbury.
While it was a tremendous artistic success, the Music League was called upon
to make up a considerable deficit.
The Waterbury Oratorio Society gave a notable concert on January 9, 1910,
with an orchestra of fifty, George E. Boyd conducting. The soloists were Miss
Laura Louise Combs, Mrs. Robert Spencer May, Dr. Franklin Lawson, and
Willard Flint.
The Waterbury Choral Club, a mixed chorus with 125 voices, is in 1917 the
leading musical organization of Waterbury. It is the outgrowth of the former
Trinity Church Choir which closed its career in 1913, when Trinity changed to
a boys' choir. Isaac B. Clark, who was musical director of the Trinity Choir,
became leader of the Choral Club and it is now in its fourth year. In 1914 it
gave a single concert, singing Grieg's "Christoforus." Its soloists were : John
Barnes Wells, Mrs. Clara Oakes Usher, Mrs. Isaac B. Clark, and Rollin P. Clarke.
In 191 5 at its January concert, it sang "The Messiah" with an orchestra of
forty pieces recruited from New York, Hartford, Waterbury, and Bridgeport.
The soloists were John Barnes Wells and Edgar Schofield of New York, Clara
Oakes Usher and Miss Edith Aab. At its April concert in 191 5 the soloist was
Arthur Middleton, of the Metropolitan Opera.
In 1916 the Choral Club gave the oratorio "Elijah" with Miss Rhea Massicotte,
of Meriden, as soprano, Robert Maitland of Covent Garden, London, as baritone,
Miss Abbott of New York, alto, and Paul Althouse, of the Metropolitan Opera,
tenor. The orchestra of forty-five pieces was again recruited from New York,
Hartford, Waterbury, and Bridgeport. At the miscellaneous concert in 1916,
Henry Dunn of Waterbury was the piano soloist, and Althouse, of New York,
the tenor.
The Choral Club is now preparing to produce the oratorio "St. Paul" in
January, 1918.
The capable accompanist of the club is Miss Eunice Broughton.
The Waterbury Choral Club is Unit No. 2 of the Liberty Chorus of Con-
necticut, and Mr. Clark hopes to have 1,000 voices trained when the first call for
patriotic singing comes from headquarters.
The Masonic Choir, ranging from forty to fifty voices, is now in its eighth
year. It was in charge of Isaac B. Clark as musical director shortly after its
organization. For three years it was under the musical direction of Arthur H.
Turner, and is now again under the direction of Mr. Clark. It gives one annual
concert in May and tours the state. Its soloists at the last May concert were
Lambert Murphy and Leonora Sparks.
Its most notable concert was that given January 27, 1914, at the opening of
Temple Hall. Alma Gluck was the soloist, Arthur H. Turner conducted, George
E. Boyd was at the organ, and Ralph E. Douglass was accompanist.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 301
Of other musical organizations the Swedish singing society which has been
giving concerts for some years, is worthy of mention. Its work is always excellent.
The same may be said of the Lyra Society, a German singing organization, of
which Director Keller has charge.
The Waterbury German singing societies, particularly the Concordia and
Lyra, have always taken an active part in the Connecticut Saengerfests. Twelve
years ago this was held in Waterbury and the Concordia as usual won medals for
excellence.
Waterbury has reason to be particularly proud of its bands. The most im-
portant of these is that conducted by Bert L. Fulton. This organization founded
by James M. Fulton, now of Boston, was formerly the American Band, then
became Fulton's American Band, and last year enlisted in the Home Guard. It
is now known as the Fifth Regiment Home Guard Band. There are also the
Boys' Club Band, DiVito's orchestra and band and Wolff's orchestra, all of which
are competent musical organizations.
Waterbury has an opportunity, through Paul Prentzel, local impresario, to
hear all of the world's greatest musicians. In the last decade there has not been
a year in which some of the best of the country's singers and instrumentalists
on concert tour have not come to Waterbury.
On November 13, 1913, Mr. Prentzel had Kathleen Paulow, the violinist, in
Waterbury. following on January 26, 1914, with Harold Bauer, pianist and
Madame Hudson Alexander, soprano. On March 3, 1914, Jan Kubelik was his
attraction. The remainder of his 1914 musical program included Anna Case,
Arrigo Serato, Carl Friedberg, Felice Lyne, with the New York Symphony
orchestra, Maggie Teyte, Mark Hambourg, and Edmund Burke.
In 191 5 he began the year with Marcella Sembrich and followed with Fritz
Kreisler, Pasquale Amato, Olive Kline, Josef Hofmann, Mischa Elman. Then
in order since 191 5 he has brought here Josef Stransky and Julia Culp with
the New York Philharmonic orchestra, Madame Schumann-Heink, Alma Gluck,
Ysaye, Boston Symphony orchestra, Maria Barrientos, Zimbalist, Sophie Breslau,
Elena Gerhardt, Martinelli. Percy Grainger, the Metropolitan Opera orchestra with
Leon Rothier, Mabel Garrison and Giuseppe De Luca.
On March 3, 1916, C. Z. Sparadowski brought Paderewski to Waterbury. He
played at Buckingham Music Hall to a packed house.
THEATERS AND AMATEUR DRAMATICS
During the past twenty-five years Waterbury, like all American cities, has
witnessed the many transformations which mark the history of the theater in
the United States. In 1893, the beginning of this period, the drama was in the
ascendant, and Waterbury with its new Jacques Opera House, opened November
1, 1886, and the old city hall which had done service since the Theodore Thomas
orchestra had opened its hall on October 26, 1869, saw practically all of the great
stars and successful plays of the day. It was the height of the traveling company
period. There was running at this time also the old rink on the site of the
Buckingham Building. This had been operated for some years as a theater, its
name in 1893 having been changed from "The Casino" to the "People's Theater."
In this place of amusement Denman Thompson is said to have given the first
performance of "The Old Homestead." Margaret Mather also played there.
But in 1893 it was relegated to the cheaper class of entertainments.
Waterbury owes much to the enterprise of its earliest theater manager, Eugene
Leslie Jacques. He was born in Plymouth April 30. 1855, was educated in the
302 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Waterbury schools, and gave this, his home town, all the energy and brains that
made for success in a theatrical way. Eugene Jacques died December 4, 1905.
At Jacques' Theater, until the opening of its first real opposition, Poli's Theater
December 15, 1897, all of the great artists of the day appeared. The list included
Edwin Booth, Ezra Kendall, Richard Golden. Marion Manola and Jack Mason.
May Irwin, Modjeska, Bernhardt, Barrett, Ada Rehan, the Daly musical suc-
cesses, Kyrle Bellew, and Mrs. James Brown Potter, Fay Templeton, Louis fames,
Marie Wainwright, James O'Neil, Fanny Davenport, Melbourne McDowell, Neil
Burgess, Robert Mantell, James A. Heme, and all that host of great players who
made that period illustrious.
The old city hall, after the building of Jacques, was used largely by local
dramatic societies although some excellent professional attractions continued to
appear there for many years.
In both the building of the old rink and in the construction of the new
Jacques, Eugene Jacques had as partner. Arthur H. Fenn, now the well-known
golf professional at Poland Springs and Palm Beach. In these days Fenn was a
professional fancy skater. The old rink even as the People's Theater, failed to
pay after the roller skating and polo craze died out. Henry Pincus later turned
it into a summer garden, with a Hungarian orchestra. It was in its last years
given over to cheap attractions, medicine shows and the like, finally coming into
possession of Mr. Whittemore who tore it down to make way for Buckingham
Music Hall.
In 1891 Mr. Jacques built the Auditorium on South Main Street. This, with
its hard maple floor, 5,000 square feet of dancing floor, a good stage and all
necessary accessory rooms, was at once in demand for large gatherings and big
local fairs, bazaars and prize fights. Gen. William Booth, head of the Salvation
Army, spoke in this place, to an immense gathering October 29, 1894.
For a time it was used by the David M. Hartford Stock Company, but this
venture was not successful. It is now a picture house, and is still used for
conventions, auto shows, fairs, and other such affairs. It was in the Auditorium
that Terry McGovern, then managed by Sam Harris of Cohan & Harris, fought
his first big fight.
In the early '90s, Sylvester Z. Poli, who had for some time run a successful
vaudeville theater in New Haven, looked around for new openings in his line.
Mr. Poli had been a sculptor in his younger days, and finally made some of the
wonderful wax figures at the Eden Musee in New York. From this he drifted
into the theatrical business, and now owns theaters all over New England. After
New Haven, Waterbury was his first new field. In 1896 John Moriarty bought
the East Main Street property of the American Pin Company and the Blake &
fohnson Company, both concerns having moved into new plants at Waterville.
The greater part of it was remodeled for a furniture store. The remainder of
the space was used for the construction of Poli's theater. There had been com-
plaint by some of the traveling companies that the Jacques stage was not large
enough for big productions. It was therefore decided to make the stage one of
the largest in the country and to provide seating accommodations for at least
one thousand two hundred. With its magnificent furnishings, its beautiful system
of lighting, its advantageous location, Poli's at once assumed its place as the lead-
ing theater of Waterbury. The attraction on the opening day, December 15.
1897, was Francis Wilson in "Half a King."
The competition between Poli's and Jacques' became keen, both houses suffer-
ing financially. This continued for two years, when the two theater managers,
Eugene Jacques and Sylvester Z. Poli, got together and formed a partnership.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 303
which continued until the death of Eugene Jacques. During these years Mr.
Jacques managed both theaters. There was another factor that entered into the
settlement of the local theatrical light and that was the Waterbury bill-posting
privilege which was owned by Eugene Jacques. It was the lack of this Aery
necessary means of advertising that finally brought Mr. Poli to terms.
I 'oli's was now used for high class attractions and Jacques for "ten-twenty-
thirty" melodrama, presenting such plays as "Streets of New York," "Shadows
of a Great City," "The Gnat Metropolis," "The Lights of London." In 1902
Jacques' became a vaudeville house and ran successfully for several seasons.
Then a summer stock company was formed with Earle Simmons as the leading
man and stock finally crowded out vaudeville. There was a popular craze for
stock and Simmons, Ernestine Morley, David M. Hartford, James Devine and
others of the principal actors, had many admirers.
The stars of the period from 1900 to 1910, when the "movie" craze was
completing its work of transforming the dramatic world, all appeared at Poli's.
These comprised among many others, the Empire Theater Stock Company plays,
all the Frohman attractions, Richard Mansfield, Forbes Robertson, E. S. Willard,
Maude Adams, Irving and Terry, Rhea, Bernhardt in "Camille" January 4, 191 1,
and others as famous.
After the death of Eugene Jacques in 1905, Mr. Poli took over the lease of
Jacques Theater, still running it as a stock house, but after a time sold his interest
to P. F. Shea. Mr. Shea undertook to play high class attractions, but the people
who patronize these plays did not come in paying numbers. He tried burlesque
three nights a week and light opera three nights. This also failed to go. He
gave up his lease, and Michael E. Keeley, who was administrator for the estate
of Eugene Jacques, together with T. Frank Hayes, of the T. H. Hayes Compam\
took over the building and engaged James Clancy, an experienced theatrical man,
to come from Rochester to Waterbury and run Jacques Theater. Mr. Clancy
had managed it before as a vaudeville and stock house. He at once put in
burlesque and the theater is playing almost to capacity practically every night.
Five years ago Poli's Theater, like all others of the larger theaters in the
United States, accepted the inevitable and changed to a successful popular priced
vaudeville theater, with a popular summer stock company to fill in between
seasons. Harry E. Parsons was local manager until 191 7, when he took charge
of the financial end of all the Poli theaters. Walter Griffiths now manages the
theater. High-class attractions are booked from time to time.
Up to about 1910 moving pictures were merely an interlude in theatricals,
being shown between the acts at vaudeville and stock performances. Then the
era of "store shows" began, small moving picture houses being started in vacant
stores and showing for a 5-cent admission fee. Chotzranoff Brothers built the
Garden Theater at this time and leased it to Poli, who operated it as the first
regular moving picture theater. It had a seating capacity of 500 and a real
attempt was made to put the "movie" on a higher plane. Carl F. Chapin was
the first man in Waterbury with the vision to see the present possibilities of the
new form of entertainment and in 1910 he made an arrangement with Poli to
manage the Garden for awhile. Mr. Chapin raised both the standard of the
pictures shown and the admission fee, but the experiment was made a year or
two ahead of the proper time and did not succeed. The Garden is now owned
by Judge Edward F. Cole.
Meantime the success of the small "store shows" turned many active business
men into moving picture house proprietors. Within a year or two there were
built the Carroll on North Square, the Colonial on South Main Street, the Scenic
304 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
on Bank Street, the Star on Baldwin Street, the Eden in Brooklyn and a number
of others, Patrick H. Carroll, Benedict E. Hausdorff, Robert Molzon, John L.
Fernandez being among the pioneers of the moving picture movement. There
were frequent changes of management and interest, too bewildering to follow
In 1913 John J. O'Neil built the Strand Theater, which was first leased to
William Fox of the Fox Enterprise Company, and operated as a vaudeville house.
The first season was not successful and Marcus Loew added it to his string of
theaters in 1914. In 191 5 it was taken over by Mr. Poli and is now run as a very
successful "movie" house.
The Princess on Center Street, a beautiful, cosy theater, was opened in
June, 1913, by a local company of which Otis S. Cowles is treasurer and C. L.
Martin manager, and is now giving "first run" attractions. Its capacity is 500.
The building was reconstructed in five weeks' time and was opened with "The
Pilgrim's Progress."
The Rialto, opened in the Poli Theater Block on East Main Street in October,
191 7, is the most ambitious moving picture theater yet opened in Waterbury.
The cost of reconstruction, furnishing and equipment, including a large pipe
organ, was announced at $90,000. The seating capacity is 1,400. J. F. Nichols
is the manager.
AMATEUR THEATRICALS
Waterbury has been particularly interested in amateur theatricals. Its younger
sets from generation to generation have shown unusual talents and have had
each in turn the advantages of excellent training. Prof. Francis T. Russell, D. D.,
who was for years at the head of St. Margaret's School, was a remarkable
teacher of elocution. The performance by local talent of "The School for Scan-
dal" on May 22 and 23, 1896, under his direction, is still remembered as an
exceptionally meritorious performance. This was given at Jacques Opera House
and among those who took important parts in the production were Lewis A.
Piatt, who was the Sir Peter Teazle, John H. Goss, who was Lady Sneerwell's
servant, Medora H. Piatt, now Mrs. Walter Hamlin Holmes, who was a remark-
able Lady Teazle, C. Sanford Bull, Isaac P. Kellogg, Archer O. Hitchcock,
Harold R. Durant, G. Middleton Parsons, Pierson J. dimming, Albert M. Bur-
rett, 2d, Charles F. Mitchell, Miss Emily M. Plume, Mrs. John P. Kellogg, Miss
Alma J. Scott, Miss Elsie Shaw. Mrs. Holmes showed promise of ranking with
the best professionals of the day if she had elected to take to a stage life.
Among the most notable of the dramatic societies of the early years of this
quarter century was the Acme Dramatic Club, which in 1893 and 1894 was under
the training of E. L, Maloney, and in 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898 under the
supervision of Thomas D: Freney, to whom Waterbury is indebted for many of
the best amateur performances of the past two decades. In 1899 the Acme
Dramatic Club's performance of "May Blossom" was under the direction of
Dr. J. L. Moriarty.
"Colleen Bawn" was the play given in 1893 with T. F. Carmody, E. L.
Maloney, F. P. Becton, J. R. Freney, Mrs. J. L. Moriarty, Mrs. T. J. Kilmartin,
Miss Lou Donahue in leading parts. W. J. Hughes and E. L. Tuttle furnished
the musical part of the performance. In 1894 "Under Two Flags" was given and
Dennis J. Slavin, then a judge in embryo, Peter Fox, Miss Josie Egan, Mrs. J. E.
Smith, the Misses Murphy and Garde, joined the society. "Clouds" was given
in 1895, "My Geraldine" in 1896, "Fair Rebel" in 1897, "Shenandoah" in 1898.
Dr. John D. Freney, William T. Smith, Rev. William Fox, and Miss Rose Mc-
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 305
Donald appeared in many of these plays, in addition to those mentioned above.
The plays were presented to begin with at the City Hall, later at Jacques' and at
Poli's in 1898 and 1899.
Company G Dramatic Club in 1901 gave an excellent performance of "The
Girl I Left Behind Me" under the direction of Thomas D. Freney. In this the
leading people were : Oscar Race, Thomas F. Devine, Edward F. Callahan, Dr.
John D. Freney, Frank J. Kelley, Michael Peters, George T. Jackson, Robert F.
Robins. Walter J. Costello, Mrs. Grace A. Cross, Mrs. Louis M. Donahue, and
the Misses Margaret C. Dillon and Jennie A. Freney.
The Elks Minstrels made a decided hit when they first appeared at the City
Hall in 1896. In 1899 and 1901 they again appeared. In 1908, under the musical
direction of Laslette Smith and in 19 10 under the musical direction of James
Fulton, their performances were up to professional standards. In 191 1, under
Mr. Freney's direction the Elks gave a successful production of "McKenna's
Flirtation."
Among the Elks who took part in these delightful performances were : Wil-
liam Fogarty. John F. Hackett, Capt. Wm. J. Shanahan, Lewis M Holland,
Thomas Cannon, Acly W. Castle, John H. Cassidy, Leo Race, J. M. Daly, Robert
T. Bailey, Ray Bolger, Jack F. Burke.
The Talma Club Minstrels had their days in 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1907.
These performances were under the direction of Thomas D. Freney and J. Albert
Brown. The 1907 performance was in charge of Mr. Freney and Laslette Smith.
Among the principals in these performances were : Doctor Moriarty, Martin J.
-McEvoy, John H. Cassidy, Joseph P. Kennedy, Dr. J. D. Freney, William J.
Shanahan, J. M. Daly, Carrington Gretter, Frank T. Clark, Daniel F. Lawlor,
William J. Smith.
Among the best performances of the past have been those given by St. Mary's
Hospital Aid Society. In 1912 the "Mikado" and in 1913 "Said Pasha" were
given under the direction of Messrs. Freney and Fulton; in 191 5 "The Mascotte"
was given under the direction of T. D. Freney and Isaac B. Clark. In 1916 Mr.
Freney's own delightful comedy, "O'Toole's Busy Day," was presented. The
society is still active and hopes to resume its productions after the war.
Among the men and women who had leading parts in these plays were Dr.
J. L. Moriarty, W. J. Shanahan, Cliff e Carter, John F. Hackett, Wm. Fogarty,
Mrs. Thomas McElligott. Miss May Longworth, Miss Myrtle Blackman, Dr. J.
I). Freney, Edward Fay, and Miss Winifred Sheridan.
A notable amateur performance given under professional direction was "The
Merry Geisha," given April 2$ and 24, 1908, for the benefit of the Boys' Club.
In this the following local people starred : R. T. Bailey, F. Zulette Wilson,
Merritt Tompkins, Mrs. Warren F. Trott, Miss Clara Dibble, Mrs. Claude M.
Calvert, and Miss Lillie Haynes.
Two notable amateur performances of "Alice in Wonderland" were given for
the benefit of local institutions on February 16, 1901, and December 4. 1909.
St. Joseph's Dramatic Club did notable work along these lines. In 1894,
under the direction of Mr. Freney and J. J. McDonald, the club gave at Jacques'
a performance of "Ten Nights in a Bar Boon]." In 1895 and 1896 with E. L.
Maloney as director, it produced "Cast upon the World," "Bound by an Oath."
In 1898, under E. L. Maloney's direction, it gave "The Celebrated Case," and in
1899 "Across the Potomac."
The Dramatic Club of Waterbury on April 2j. 1910, gave a memorable per-
formance of "Arms and the Man." On the program after the style of the day
appear the names of the performers as follows: Miss Mason, Miss Frisbie, Miss
Smith, Mr. Andrews. Mr. Bryan, Mr. Hitchcock. Mr. Hart, Mr. Holcomb.
Vol. 1—20
306 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
"The Chimes of Normandy," given at Poli's November 5, 1909, by St. Cecilia's
Church choir under the direction of Mr. Fulton, was a really commendable
musical production. So were the performances by the Daughters of Isabella of
"The Mocking Bird" in 1909, "The Geisha" in 1910 and "The Country Girl" in
1912.
The College Club, organized in 1912 by resident women graduates of uni-
versities, has done some good work in amateur dramatics. Its best performance
was "The Honeymoon," Arnold Bennett's comedy, given with the following in
the cast: Miss Louise Holden, Mrs. F. A. Scott, Mrs. C. P. Rodenbach, Mrs.
W. H. Pierce, Mrs. J. C. Bradley, Mrs. A. D. Mcintosh, Miss Marguerite Jones,
Miss Dorothy Hart.
The Crosby High School plays have always been happy affairs. In recent
years the students have given "What Happened to Jones," "In Chancery," both
at Poli's "The Bluffers" in 1914 at Jacques' "Liberty Hall" in 191 5 and in 1916,
at Temple Hall, "Shakespeare, a Mask," the very able work of Michael C.
Donovan, now principal of the school.
The French Dramatic Club, an adjunct of St. Ann's Church, has given several
excellent productions, notably a French version of "Friend Fritz."
There have also been excellent productions at Leavenworth Hall under the
auspices of the Young Woman's Friendly League.
These are the principal amateur performances of the period. The editor is
indebted to Thomas D. Freney for much of the material.
CHAPTER XXV
THE NEWSPAPERS
THE WATERBURY AMERICAN — ITS NEW BUILDING — THE EVENING DEMOCRAT AND ITS
SUCCESS DUE TO THE WORK OF ITS FOUNDER, CORNELIUS MALONEY AND PRESENT
EDITOR, VINCENT MALONEY — IN ITS NEW BUILDING — THE REPUBLICAN SOLD BY
THE AMERICAN — A SECOND SALE WITHIN A YEAR RAPID GROWTH OF THE PAPER
IS MOVED INTO ITS OWN BUILDING MODERN EQUIPMENT POLICY APPROVED
BY THE PUBLIC INCORPORATED PRESENT OFFICIALS WEEKLIES AND MONTH-
LIES. EAST AND PRESENT.
THE WATERBURY AMERICAN
The first number of the Waterbury American, issued December 14, 1844,
by Josiah Giles was the beginning of the town's newspaper history. In 1877,
after a long and interesting history which is fully narrated in Doctor Anderson's
History, the present owners of the paper secured control. Among its stock-
holders were A. S. Chase, who became president, C. R. Baldwin, Charles F.
Pope, Charles S. Treadway, H. S. Chase and C. F. Chapin. In 1878 C. F. Chapin
became its editor. In 1889 C. R. Baldwin and in 1892 Charles S. Treadway retired
from the directorate and in 1893 the following were the officers of the company:
A. S. Chase, president, H. S. Chase, treasurer and manager, and C. F. Chapin,
secretary and editor.
Arthur R. Kimball became associate editor in 1881, succeeding to the position
of general manager and publisher in 1907.
In August, 1892, on the death of John S. Deacon, the position of advertising
manager was assumed by Charles H. Keach, who later became business manager.
From this position he retired in 191 6. Burt C. Pike became advertising manager
in 1916.
On December 14, 1894, the paper published a special edition in honor of its
fiftieth anniversary.
In 1894 the company began the construction of its present building on Grand
Street, occupying the structure in 1895. At this time it was equipped with a
Potter press, linotypes, and complete stereotyping outfit.
In the fire of 1902 the walls of the building remained standing, although the
interior was heavily damaged by both flames and water. When the work of
renovation and reconstruction was completed, the press was found to be in
excellent working condition.
On June 7, 1896, Augustus S. Chase, president of the company, died in Paris
and was succeeded in the office by his son, Henry S. Chase.
THE WATERBURY DEMOCRAT
The Waterbury Democrat had been launched as a weekly in July, t88i, then
changed to The Sunday Democrat on January 7. 1886, and on December 5, 1887.
307
308 WATERBURY AXD THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
it appeared as an evening paper under the name The Evening Democrat. The
success of the paper, both as a weekly and as a daily, was due in its earlier years
to the energy and progressiveness of its founder, Cornelius Maloney, who in
1882 had associated with him his brother, M. T. Maloney. Both had learned
the printing and the entire newspaper making business in New Britain, from which
place they came to Waterbury.
Its business manager when it changed to a daily was Edward E. F. McMahon,
who remained in that responsible position until 191 5, when he resigned on account
of ill health. He was succeeded by his assistant, John A. Hayden, who is also
secretary of the corporation.
Cornelius Maloney died January 5, 1914, and his son, E. Vincent Maloney,
is now in editorial charge of the paper. Mr. Maloney is a graduate of Holy Cross
College, Worcester, from which in 191 1 he came direct to the editorial department
of the Democrat. He has held all minor editorial positions on the paper and came
to his task well equipped with newspaper experience and a thorough knowledge
of his community.
The paper was printed up to 1895 in the building at 267 South Main Street.
In that year it erected its own building at 71-73 Grand Street. This it occu-
pied until 1 91 6 when it dedicated its splendid new five-story block at 53-55 Grand
Street. In this it has installed a thirty-two page straight-line Goss quad, one of
the finest newspaper printing presses made. In the former building its press was
a twenty-page three-decker Goss.
The policy of the paper has always been of a loyal and progressive nature.
It stands firmly by the President in the present great crisis, has espoused with
energy and helpfulness all the financial "war drives," and has made patriotism
a basic principle in the conduct of its paper.
The Democrat was incorporated on March 23, 1914, for $75,000. Its president
is E. Vincent Maloney ; secretary, John A. Hayden.
THE WATERBURY REPUBLICAN
On March 1, 1890, on the retirement of John H. Morrow, the Waterbury
Republican which he had founded in 1881 as a weekly and in 1884 as a daily,
was purchased by the American Printing Company and published from its plant
on Grand Street. The building then occupied by the Republican, destroyed in
the fire of 1902, was just east of the American building. Its editor was Thomas
Dudley Wells, who had for some years been an associate editor under Mr. Morrow.
Frank T. Parsons, who had previously been in charge of the American's mechan-
ical department and prior to that on the Springfield Republican, was made business
manager of the Republican.
In 1898, on the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Mr. Parsons began
issuing a well-edited and newsy Sunday edition which, however, did not aid in
putting the paper on a paying basis. The Republican was considered a subsidiary
of the American, and as the policies were similar, there was no great tendency
on the part of the public to take both papers.
On March 1, 1901, the paper, with its Associated Press franchise and its files,
was sold to Francis Atwater, publisher of the Meriden, Conn., Journal, who
moved it to the corner of Center and Leavenworth Streets. There he installed
an eight-page Campbell press and two linotype machines, the outfit of his defunct
New Britain Dispatch, and waited for purchasers.
In October, 1901, Mr. Atwater sold the outfit to William M. Lathrop and
William J. Pape. Mr. Lathrop came here from Williamsport, Pa., where he had
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 309
been managing editor of Grit. Prior to that he had been employed on the Car-
bondale, Pa., Leader, his father's paper, and on the Paterson, N. J., Press. He
was a thoroughly trained and excellent all-around newspaperman.
William J. Pape had been city editor, business manager and editor of the
Passaic, X. }.. News. He had been the correspondent in this important field for
the New York World and the New York Tribune.
For four months it was a struggle to keep the spark alive, but a vigorous and
fearless editorial policy and news columns amplified by direct receipt of the Asso-
ciated Press news on a wire put into the Republican office, and up-to-date local
news, brightened and strengthened the paper.
In February, 1902, the great fire which crippled the American was an ill-
wind that blew some good toward the Republican. It gave it an opportunity to
acquaint a larger public with its policy and its clean, bright news columns. On
February 3, the morning of the fire, the Republican sold 13,000 copies. The result
was that its circulation took a permanent leap from 2,000 daily to 3,200 and over.
On October 1, 1902, the paper was getting so strongly entrenched that enlarge-
ment was decided upon. It was incorporated on that date, as The Waterbury Re-
publican Inc.. with a capital of $30,000. Mr. Lathrop and Mr. Pape retained
control and moved the editorial and newly equipped mechanical department to
the Schlegel Building, on Printers' Court, the business office locating at 47 Center
Street. The new equipment consisted of a sixteen-page Scott press and one new
linotype, giving it a battery of three of these machines.
In 1903 the Trolley strike found the Republican firmly entrenched on the side
of law and order and its firm stand, its determination to keep the American flag
flying in Waterbury, gave it a second great stride in circulation. It was becoming
more and more clear to the people that the Republican had no axes to grind,
save those that meant a better and a cleaner Waterbury.
This period added another 2,500 to the permanent circulation of the paper.
While it was not making much money during these early years, it never lost money.
In October, 1906, it began the issue of its Sunday edition. The field was
unique, to say the least. There were two Sunday papers of a peculiar kind that
reflected no credit either on the town or on their readers.
The Sunday Republican was in policy and contents like its daily issues, clean
and virile. It was not a paper that one needed to be ashamed of. The result
was an instantaneous success. The Sunday Telegram, which had prospered along
its peculiar lines, was put out of business within eighteen months. The Herald
took the cue and had a house-cleaning of its columns. Four attempts to start
scurrilous Sunday papers since then have all failed.
In November, 1907, the Republican leased and moved into its present location
on Grand Street, the building put up for it by T. F. Jackson.
In 1910 Mr. Lathrop sold his interest to Mr. Pape and moved to California,
where he is now located.
In 191 1 the paper had grown sufficiently to warrant the installation of a new
thirty-six-page Hoe press, the finest printing machine ever used in Waterbury.
Another linotype made it a battery of four of these machines. In 1917, with the
third plant installed in sixteen years, there is not in the entire business a stick of
the original outfit bought from Mr. Atwater. Its mechanical equipment now con-
sists of its fine new Hoe press, six linotypes, including two Model 9s and one
.Model 8, a monotype machine, which casts much of its advertising display type,
a Hoe plate finishing machine, and every one of these machines driven by an
individual motor.
Tn February. 1917, the Republican bought the building it now occupies.
310 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
It has been unswerving in its support of the President during the war period,
has espoused and is espousing with all the energy and wisdom at its command
every cause that benefits city, state or nation. It has opened its columns to all
the publicity needed by those in charge of the Liberty Loans, the Red Cross
work, the Tobacco funds and all activities of a like nature.
Its local policy remains unchanged. It stands for the best possible government
and for the cleanest possible city.
THE WEEKLY AND MONTHLY PRESS
In 1893 in addition to the daily papers there were in existence in Waterbury
five weeklies and one bi-monthly, the latter the National Guardsman, edited by
A. C. Northrop. The Examiner was a small weekly, a branch of the Hartford
Examiner, and was edited here in that year by M. J. Brzezinski. The Sunday
Globe was run by Cornelius Downey and the Sunday Herald, incorporated April
7, 1888, by F. R. Swift. There was also the Valley Catholic published by Rev.
Farrell Martin at 108 Bank Street and the Neue Zeitung, a German weekly owned
by H. Loether and published at 19 School Street.
By 1895 both the Valley Catholic and the National Guardsman had joined
the "journalistic" great majority and in 1896 there were two new recruits, Our
Church Review, published at 36 North Main Street by the Press Review Publish-
ing Company, and The Waterbury, which continued not much more than a year.
In 1898 there were left only the Examiner, the Sunday Globe, the Sunday Herald
and the Neue Zeitung with ownership unchanged.
In 1899 there came the first evidence of the growing foreign population in the
publication of II Patriote, which was in fact a branch in Italian of the Llartford
Examiner. This lasted less than a year.
In 1900 there was a decided change in the newspaper field. The first new
departure was the entrance of the Sunday Globe into the evening field with the
title The Evening Globe. Its editors were John J. Splain and Henry O. Sullivan.
It was published at 11^2 Grand Street. C. J. Sawdey was its manager. It had an
existence of less than a year.
In that year N. L. Nadeau began the publication of his French weekly Le Con-
necticut at 36 North Main Street, which lasted not much over a year. There
appeared also in this year the Boebachter, a German weekly, taking the place
of Loether's Neue Zeitung and under the ownership and editorship of its present
executive. Max Taschenberger. It is published at 209 Bank Street. These,
with the Herald and Examiner, formed the weekly publications in existence in
that year.
In 1903 the only addition was La Tribuna di Waterbury, published at 154 East
Main Street.
In 1905 Le Franco-America, with Jean de Vicqas editor, was published for
less than a year at 199 Bank Street. F. R. Swift still ran the Waterbury Herald
and C. J. Sawdey had started the Sunday Telegram. The Examiner became the
property of B. Witkowski and was published at 43 East Main Street.
By 1908 the Examiner and Telegram had disappeared, and in that year Ciro
P. Lanza began his Progresso del Connecticut, changing its title in 1910 to II Pro-
gresso del New England, published at 59 Grand Street.
The Sign of the Cross, a religious monthly, was published by Rev. J. A.
Stansfield at 644 Thomaston Avenue during 1909 and 1910.
The newcomer in 191 2 was the Waterbury Sunday Times, published by John
H. Curley, but which existed less than a year.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 311
La Verita, published first at 35 Center and later at 199 Bank Street, was the
only addition in 1913, and this is still in existence under the editorship of Frank
DeFeo.
The Waterbury Worker, a labor paper, was published at 108 Bank Street in
1914 under the auspices of the Central Labor Union, but was discontinued after a
few months.
In 1916 the Waterbury Sunday Mail appeared for a brief existence.
In 1917 the weeklies appearing are La Verita, the Italian publication; the Wa-
terbury Herald, now a branch of the Bridgeport Herald and printed at Bridgeport ;
the Beobachter, still edited by Max Taschenberger, its first editor; and II Pro-
gresso del New England, still edited by Ciro P. Lanza. The Waterbury Herald
Company was dissolved as a Waterbury corporation in 1905.
CHAPTER XXVI
WAR AND MILITARY ACTIVITIES
WATERBURY's SHARE IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR CITY PAYS TRIBUTE TO
LIEUTENANT FRANK W. KELLOGG, ONE OF HEROES OF BATTLE OF MANILA BAY AND
EIGHTY-TWO VETERANS OF WAR THE CALL TO ARMS IN I916 WATERBURY BOYS
MOVE TO MEXICAN BORDER OVATION BY CITY ON RETURN DECLARATION OF WAR
ON GERMANY FINDS WATERBURY IN MIDST OF RECRUITING CAMPAIGN THE
NATIONAL GUARD GOES TO THE FRONT THE DRAFT THE LIBERTY LOANS THE
RED CROSS WATERBURY'S MANY PATRIOTIC EFFORTS TRIBUTE TO ROCHAMBEAU.
When war was declared on Spain in 1898, Connecticut and Waterbury, notable
among- its cities, was not slow to respond to the call to arms. Previous to the
actual declaration of war all state military organizations tendered their services
to the President for any duty that might be required of them. Regiments were
then called out according to seniority of colonels. The First Regiment was
named under the first call for troops with Battery A, Light Artillery. Under the
second call the Third. Regiment responded. Nine companies of the First were
mustered in May 17, 1898, the remaining companies and batteries on the follow-
ing day.
The Second Regiment, which was then commanded by Col. Lucien F. Burpee,
and which contained the Waterbury battalion of the National Guard, was held in
readiness for service, and recruited to its full strength. While not called out
officially, the companies devoted much time to drill and to field work. No
Connecticut organizations were called into service in the Cuban campaign.
Among those commissioned, however, as officers of volunteers was Colonel
Burpee, who was appointed lieutenant-colonel and judge advocate of United
States Volunteers.
There were, however, a number of Waterbury men who volunteered and who
saw active service in both Cuba and the Philippines with the regular army and in
the navy both as officers and privates.
On May 1, 1898, the naval battle of Manila Bay was fought and on board the
cruiser Baltimore, one of Dewey's fighting ships, was a Waterbury man, Lieut.
Frank W. Kellogg, who was among the wounded on that fateful day. Lieutenant
Kellogg retired as captain in 1914, but on November 1, 191 7, again responded to
the call to duty and is now at the Charleston Navy Yard.
Captain Kellogg is a brother of Judge John P. Kellogg of the Superior Court
and of Mrs. Irving H. Chase, and a son of Gen. Stephen W. Kellogg, a former
congressman from this state. He graduated from the United States Naval
Academy in 1879, was with Rear Admiral Benham at Rio de Janerio during the
Brazilian insurrection of 1894 and from 1897 to 1899 was stationed on the
U. S. S. Baltimore, where he distinguished himself in the now world-famous
naval engagement.
Since then he has commanded the U. S. S. Indiana, the New Jersey, the
Maine, has had many assignments to important land posts and was retired
June 30, 1 91 4.
312
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 313
On October 20, 1899, Lieutenant Kellogg returned to Waterbury to be the
central figure in one of the most notable civic and military celebrations ever
held here.
His Waterbury townsmen bad arranged a parade and review and the formal
presentation of a sword of honor to commemorate his participation in the battle
of Manila Bay. Col. Lucien F. Burpee was marshal of the day. Governor
Lounsbury and his staff honored the occasion by their presence. In the parade
were all the military and civic societies of Waterbury. The reviewing stand was
fashioned to resemble the outlines of the U. S. S. Baltimore. Mayor Thomas D.
Barlow presented the sword. Medals were presented to eighty-two Waterbury
veterans of the Spanish- American war who were on this day jointly honored
with Lieutenant Kellogg. Some of them, including Seaman Shea, who was
at the battle of Manila, were not present. Frederick W. Shindler, a member of
Battery M, Fifth United States Artillery and stationed at Tampa, Fla., and
Private John B. Porter, who had been in Cuba, commanded these veterans in
the parade.
A medal was also presented to Miss Cherrie M. French, Red Cross nurse,
who had served at the front in Cuba.
On June 18, 1916, when word came that the National Guard of every state in
the Union had been ordered out by the President, for service on the Mexican
border, the Waterbury soldiers made prompt response. Capt. Henry B. Carter
of Company A, Capt. Roberts R. Hannegan of Company H, and Capt. J. W.
Carroll of Company G, within a few hours had men and field equipment ready
to move. The three local companies numbered just 188 men, Company A leading
with 68 men, Company G next with 61 men, while Company H had 59 men. The
officers of the local detachment of the Medical Corps were Capt. Edmund Russell
and Lieut. Thomas F. Healy. The junior officers of the three infantry com-
panies were as follows: Company A, first lieutenant, Wm. J. Shanahan; second
lieutenant, vacant at time of call ; Company H, first lieutenant, John L. Gray, Jr. ;
second lieutenant, Charles E. Hart, Jr. ; Company G, first lieutenant, Alva E.
Parsons; second lieutenant, Matthew Galligan.
On June 20th the work of recruiting to full war strength (companies of 150
men) began, and city officials, merchants, manufacturers and professional men
announced that the families of those who enlisted would be looked after. In
many instances full salaries were paid to those who had been called out.
Finally on June 24, 1916, with their ranks nearly complete, the three com-
panies left the armory on Phoenix Avenue, and entrained for camp at Niantic.
At that time Company G had more than its quota, Company A had reached 121
and Company H was at 112. The parade at noon reviewed by Mayor Scully and
Col. Walter H. Chatfield, U. S. A., retired, gave the people of Waterbury their
first opoprtunity to see their soldier boys in fighting form.
When the Waterbury companies, with other Connecticut troops, left for the
Mexican border, June 28th and 29th, W\ J. Shanahan had become captain of
Company A, succeeding Capt. Henry B. Carter, who had been then over thirty
years in the service. First Sergeant Fitzgibbons became second lientenant. Cap-
tain Carter was declared medically unfit on account of an old strain received
while riding. The Waterbury companies were stationed at Xogales, Arizona,
from July to October.
In Waterbury the Red Cross raised a civilian relief fund of $500 a month for
the benefit of the families of its soldiers.
On Saturday, October 28, 1916, the Waterbury companies returned home and
marched through streets crowded with a cheering multitude estimated at 60.000.
314 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
All public buildings and business houses were decorated. The marshal of the
day was Col. James Geddes and in the parade were the G. A. R., Spanish-
American war veterans and many civic societies. At the banquet to the return-
ing troopers given in Temple Hall, Judge Lucien F. Burpee, Mayor Scully and
Charles A. Colley delivered addresses.
It was but a brief respite the troops had, for on April 6, 1917, war was
declared on Germany and the call for volunteers followed immediately. This
was the first of the enlisting campaigns and it has, of course, been continuous.
On March 28th, nine days before the declaration of war, the Waterbury com-
panies were on duty at the armory nightly awaiting the call to duty. For over a
month active recruiting work had been in progress. "America, your country,
needs you now" was the sign on the tent erected on The Green for the promotion
of naval enlistments.
The governor had named a military emergency board, consisting of Judge
Lucien F. Burpee, Benedict M. Holden and J. Moss Ives, and under the state
law of March 9, 191 7, it began the organization here and elsewhere in the state,
of an armed constabulary to do duty as a home guard. The recruiting officers
for Waterbury were : John M. Burrall, Henry B. Carter, James Geddes, Patrick
Bannon, Thomas F. Hallinan, Henry W. Minor, Roberts G. Hannegan, Wm. H.
Sandland, Alfred J. Wolff, and over five hundred were signed up in the first two
weeks.
On March 26, 19 17, the aldermen had authorized a city guard to be armed
and sworn in as special constables. This organization was distinct from the
state body.
The Red Cross began its local campaign at once and within a few days had
secured a membership of over three thousand. On April 6th the declaration of
war found Waterbury in the midst of its "readiness" campaigns. The recruiting
offices for every branch of the service were in full swing.
On March 30th the first machine gun for the city guard arrived. On that
day also came Maj. John L. Hughes, Coast Artillery, U. S. A., to begin the work
of mustering in the three local companies, which were rapidly nearing their war
complements.
On April 18th the first food conservation campaign was begun in Waterbury
with the inauguration of gardening clubs and the planning of a general vegetable
seed planting program for the spring.
Nor was the war fever confined to the American born. A contingent of forty
Albanians and of fifty Poles left Waterbury early in June to join, one the Serbian
and Albanian troops and the other to become part of the Polish contingent in the
French army.
THE DRAFT
The draft had in the meantime been authorized by Congress and on June 1,
19 1 7, 108 deputies who were to register Waterbury 's eligible men between the
ages of twenty-one and thirty-one, met in the City Hall and organized for work.
A remarkable feature of registration day, Tuesday, June 5, 1917, was the
quiet and law-respecting manner in which the Government orders were carried
out. The total registration for Waterbury was 15,566, divided as follows: First
Ward, 3,682; Second Ward, 2,442; Third Ward, 3,690; Fourth Ward, 3,114;
Fifth Ward, 2,343; Sixth District (Waterville), 295.
The Waterbury exemption boards announced June 26th were as follows:
City Division No. 1, First and Fifth wards: Judge of Probate Dennis J.
Slavin, Dr. Charles A. Monagan, Capt. Alfred J. Wolff.
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY 315
Division Xo. 2, Second Ward and Sixth Voting District: U. G. Church, Dr.
Nelson A. Pomeroy, Thomas F. Jackson.
Division No. 3. Third and Fourth wards: Terrence F. Carmody, Francis P.
Guilfoile, Dr. Dudley B. Deming.
The quota required by the Government was as follows : First District, 490 ;
Second District^ 229; Third District, 550, a total of 1,269.
The first men called under the draft, Friday July 20, 1917, were: First Dis-
trict, Adelbert Auray, 1255 East Main Street; Second District, Allie Sely, 114
Thomaston Avenue; Third District, Rocco Lignofe, 181 Charles Street.
The Second Exemption District Board for the state was located in Waterbury
on August 4th. This is an appeal board and consists of Leonard M. Daggett, of
New Haven; P. F. O'Meara, of New Haven; Charles R. Treat, of Orange; Dr.
Dudley B. Deming, of Waterbury, and Darragh DeLancey, of Waterbury.
The meeting places for examination of drafted men were arranged as follows :
First City District, Crosby High School; Second City District, Y. M. C. A. Build-
ing; Third City District, State's Attorney's office. The second exemption district
board for the state arranged to meet in the courthouse.
On August 14th the work of examination began and on August 20th the
Third City District had reached its quota. The other districts were completed
almost as speedily, but exemptions for physical and other causes kept the city
district boards occupied until September. The Second Exemption District Board
for the state is still holding sessions.
On September 20th the first draft contingent of 2 per cent from each district
entrained for Camp Devens, Ayer, Mass. The second contingent of 40 per cent
leaving September 27th and a later contingent of 43 per cent October 4th.
Recently 150 men were called and sent to Fort Wright, Fisher's Island. Approx-
imately 13 per cent are not yet called and these will probably be summoned under
the new questionnaire sent out late in 191 7.
The Waterbury National Guard companies had been sent to Camp Yale at
New Haven, April 3, 191 7. In September they were encamped at Fort Totten,
N. Y. They left for service abroad in October.
On August 24th the First and Second regiments of the Connecticut National
Guard were merged into the One Hundred and Second Regiment, United States
Infantry. Waterbury's men formed companies A, G, and H. They are officered
as follows : Company A, captain, William J. Shanahan ; first lieutenants, John
Fitzgibbons, Ray E. Hall; second lieutenants, Colin M. Ingersoll, William E.
Murtaugh. Company G, captain. Harry B. Bissell ; first lieutenants. James A.
Hagerty, Fred W. Deaucar; second lieutenants, Thomas W. Brown, Leonard J.
Maloney. Company H, captain, John L. Gray, Jr. ; first lieutenants, Florence W.
Geer, Joseph E. Murtaugh; second lieutenants, Cyrus C. Washburn, Edward C.
Bell. Thomas F. Healey is headquarters company captain.
The Second Regiment is commanded by Col. Ernest Isbell of New Haven,
Lieut. Col. Edwin Lamb, of Hartford, Majs. Henry Beebe and Wm. Alcorn, of
Xew Haven and George Rau. of Hartford.
When the National Guard companies arrived at Camp Yale the companies
were ordered increased to 250 men. Companies A and H retained practically
all of their officers, but Company G was officered by men from other parts of the
state. While the men in these companies are largely from Waterbury, the order
to increase from 150 to 250 necessitated additions from many other sections of
the country.
The officers not assigned are now doing duty in southern camps.
The City Guard was sworn in April 4, 191 7, and now numbers 250 men. It
316 WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
is in command of Maj. D. E. Fitzpatrick, with captain and adjutant, F. J. Lyon.
Its four machine gun squads are in charge of Capt. Robert A. Cairns, city engi-
neer. The captains of the City Guard are: Company A, Ff. G. Littlejohn; Com-
pany B, Peter Griffin; Company C, Wm. H. Monagan; Company D, Edward W.
Beach.
The City Guard is armed with clubs and automatic revolvers and uniformed
in khaki. Their campaign hats have green and white hat-cords.
The Home Guard mustered in and fully equipped now numbers about five
hundred men. Its principal officers are : James Geddes, colonel ; Roberts G.
Hannegan, major; Chauncey P. Goss, Jr., regimental and district adjutant with
title of captain; John M. Burrall, regimental and district quartermaster with title
of captain ; Edward W. Beach, district intelligence officer with title of captain.
Captain, Company A, Wm. R. Keavaney ; captain, Company H, Levi Wilcox ;
captain, Company G, Thomas A. Jackson ; captain, Machine Gun Company, 
